Brussels, 05/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The EU's 2006 scoreboard for industrial R&D investment shows that the 1,000 largest EU companies increased their R&D activity by 5.3% on average in 2005. The 1,000 largest companies outside the Community increased R&D investment spending by 7.7%, which shows a rise in spending in this area at world level.
This encouraging result prompted Janez Potocnik, European Research Commissioner, to say that “if this trend continues, we could gradually close the R&D investment gap”. “I hope that at the Lahti summit later this month, European leaders will support the Commission's proposal to go further to boost innovation in Europe, and give even more impetus to these positive developments”, he added.
After a period of low growth in R&D activity, the scoreboard this year shows a strong R&D investment rise in the whole as a whole. The average increase of 5.3% for European companies is remarkable if one compares it to the 0.7% rise last year and the 2% fall in 2004. The rise in R&D investment in companies in the rest of the world was 7.7% in 2005, that is one percent more than the previous year. EU companies continue to perform well among the top R&D investors. Of the worldwide top 50, 18 are EU companies, the same number as last year, including 5 of the 10 fastest R&D growth companies worldwide. From the rest of the world, the top 50 includes 18 US companies, 10 Japanese (2 less than last year), 2 Swiss and 2 South Korean (the 2006 scoreboard reports high R&D growth by South Korean companies). Most of top R&D investors are from automobile and parts sector (13 companies), pharmaceuticals (11 companies) and IT Hardware (9 companies). Daimler-Chrysler is once again the biggest R&D investor among EU companies.
For further information: http: //iri.jrc.es.