Brussels, 15/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 11 June, the European Commission published a new report on research and innovation in Europe. Entitled “Key figures 2007 on Science, Technology and Innovation”, the report confirms that R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as % of GDP) in Europe has stagnated since the mid-nineties, while major competitors such as Japan, China or South Korea have been able to increase their R&D effort substantially. Key Figures 2007 shows that differences in the industrial structure of the EU compared to countries such as the US are the main cause for this low level of business R&D, with the EU having a smaller high-tech industrial sector, which usually has much higher levels of R& D spending.
In 2005, just 1.84% of GDP was dedicated to R&D in the EU27, which is still below the level in the USA, Japan or South Korea. It can also be seen that emerging economies such as China are catching up rapidly. If current trends continue, China will have caught the EU up by 2009 in terms of R&D intensity. Nonetheless, high intensity R&D member states, such as Austria, Germany, Finland and Denmark show that it is possible to maintain or increase R&D intensity above 2%, if not 3%. Over 85% of the R&D intensity gap between the EU and its main competitors is due to the differences of R&D financing by their companies. The low level of R&D spending in the private sector in Europe compared to the United States is mainly due to the differences in industrial structure and the small size of the high tech sector in the EU. As far as excellence in research is concerned, although the EU is the largest world producer of scientific knowledge, the influence of European science is less than that of American science. Europe is ahead of the United States in all scientific disciplines when it comes to the most frequently quoted publications and citations. Also, EU universities are largely under-represented at the top of the bibliometric indicator rankings for the largest universities worldwide. Finally, the link between technology (patented inventions) and the scientific base is lower in the EU than in the United States. Europe finds it difficult to penetrate the new high tech industries. The report may be consulted on the internet at: http: //ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/monitoring/statistical01_en.htm (oj)