Brussels, 12/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - According to provisional data gathered by the European statistical office Eurostat, European Union research intensity is not increasing.
In 2005, the EU27 spent just over €200 billion on Research and Development (R&D). R&D intensity (expenditure as a percentage of GDP) in the EU27 stood at 1.84%, the same as in 2004. R&D intensity remained significantly lower in the EU27 than in other major economies, Eurostat says. In 2004, R&D expenditure was 2.68% of GDP in the United States, 3.18% in Japan, and it reached 1.34% in China in 2005. R&D expenditure in the EU27 rose by 1.5% in real terms on average per year between 2001 and 2005, compared with 1.7% in the United States and 2.0% in Japan between 2001 and 2004. In 2004, the business sector financed 55% of total EU R&D spending, while the corresponding share was 64% in the United States, 75% in Japan and 66% in China.
In 2005, the highest R&D intensities among Member States were recorded in Sweden (3.86% of GDP), and Finland (3.48%), followed by Germany (2.51%), Denmark (2.44%), Austria (2.36%) and France (2.13%). The lowest intensities were in Romania (0.39% in 2004), Cyprus (0.40%), Bulgaria (0.50%) and Slovakia (0.51%).
During the period 2001-2005, average annual growth rates of R&D expenditure in real terms ranged from +18% in Latvia, +17% in Estonia, +15% in Cyprus; +11% in Lithuania to -2% in Belgium and Slovenia and -1% in Slovakia.
In the EU27, the business sector finances the highest share of R&D expenditure (55%), followed by the government sector (35%) and funding from abroad (8%). Among Member States, Luxemburg (with 80%) recorded the highest share of R&D spending financed by the business sector in 2004, followed by Finland (69%), Germany (67%), Sweden (65%), Belgium and Denmark (60% each). Three Member States registered shares for the business sector of 20% or less: Malta and Cyprus (both 19%) and Lithuania (20%), says Eurostat. (oj)