Luxembourg, 14/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - According to provisional data published by Eurostat on Monday, research and development (R&D) expenditure increased strongly in the EU in 1999 (+5.6% in constant prices) and continued to rise in 2000 albeit at a slower pace (+2.3%).
While the share of R&D expenditure in GDP decreased in the EU between 1995 and 1997, from 1.90% to 1.86%), it regained its 1995 level at the end of the nineties: 1.92% in 1999 and 1.90% in 2000. Nonetheless, the gap compared to the United States and Japan, which devoted 2.64% and 3.04% of their GDP respectively to R&D spending in 1999, remains substantial. In 2000, the R&D personnel accounted for 1.34% of the EU labour force (as opposed to 1.27% in 1995), confirming the slight progression noted over the last five years. Among Member States, the greatest research effort was made by Sweden and Finland, which devoted 3.80% and 3.19% respectively of their GDP to R&D in 1999. Germany (2.44%) and France (2.19%), the following countries in this ranking, were clearly behind even if they were the leading countries in terms of total volume of expenditure, accounting for 35% and 20% respectively of the EU total. At the other end of the scale, the lowest ratios were registered in the southern countries: Greece (0.51% in 1997), Portugal (0.76%), Spain (0.89%) and Italy (1.04%). Between 1995 and 1999, the annual average growth of R&D expenditure was particularly high in Finland (+14% in constant prices) and in Portugal (+12%), while France and the United Kingdom, with average annual growth of around 1%, registered the smallest rises. The breakdown of R&D expenditure at constant prices in the EU shows an increasing share of business enterprises, which performed 66% of R&D activities in 2000, compared to 63% in 1995. In the same period, higher education remained relatively steady at around 20%, while the government's share declined from 16% in 1995 to 14% in 2000. There are still strong differences between Member States. The share of business enterprises ranged in 1999 from 25% in Portugal and 26% in Greece (in 1997) to 72% in Belgium, 74% in Ireland (in 1997) and 75% in Sweden. In the United States, business enterprises accounted for 78% of R&D expenditure in 1999 and in Japan for 74%.