First preliminary results: Research & Development in the EU
- In relation to GDP, EU25 R&D expenditure stable at 1.9% in 2004
- In real terms, EU25 R&D expenditure grew by 1.3% per year between 2001 and 2004
In 2003 the business sector financed 54% of total EU25 R&D expenditure, while the shares of the business sector in the United States and Japan were 63% and 75% respectively.
The EU goals in Research and Development, as set by the Lisbon summit strategy, are to achieve by 2010 a R&D intensity of at least 3% for the EU as a whole, and to have two thirds of R&D expenditure financed by the business sector.
This information comes from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. R&D intensity varies from 0.3% of GDP in Malta to 3.7% in Sweden
In 2004, the highest R&D intensities among the Member States were registered in Sweden (3.74% of GDP) and Finland (3.51%), followed by Denmark (2.63%), Germany (2.49%), Austria (2.26%) and France (2.16%). The lowest intensities were found in Malta (0.29%), Cyprus (0.37%), Latvia (0.42%) and Slovakia (0.53%).
Annual average growth rates of R&D expenditure over the period 2001 to 2004 ranged from +16% in Estonia, +15% in Cyprus, +12% in Lithuania and +10% in Spain (between 2001 and 2003) to -4% in Portugal (2001-2003) and -2% in Belgium, Slovakia and Sweden. Largest shares of R&D financed by business sector in Luxembourg, Finland, Germany and Sweden
The business sector finances the highest share of EU25 expenditure on R&D (54%), followed by the government sector (35%) and funding from abroad (9%). Among Member States, Luxembourg (80%) recorded the largest share of R&D expenditure financed by the business sector in 2003, followed by Finland (70%), Germany (66%), Sweden (65%), Denmark (61%) and Belgium (60%). Three Member States registered shares for the business sector of 20% or less: Lithuania (17%), Malta (19% in 2002) and Cyprus (20%).
Research and Development expenditure
R&D intensity,
R&D expenditure as% of GDP
R&D expenditure1
R&D expenditure financed by business sector, as% of total
2001
2003
2004
2004
(mio euro)
Annual average growth rate in real terms (%)
2001-2004
2003
EU25
1.93
1.92
1.90p
195 042p
1.3
54.3
Belgium
2.17
1.92
1.93p
5 465p
-2.3
60.3
Czech Republic
1.22
1.26
1.28
1 100
4.5
51.5
Denmark
2.40
2.59
2.63p
5 112p
4.3
61.3
Germany
2.46
2.52
2.49p
55 100p
0.8
66.3
Estonia
0.73< td width="9.765625%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" valign="middle">
0.82
0.91p
83p
15.6
33.0
Greece
0.64
0.62
0.58p
967p
1.1
30.7
Spain
0.92
1.05
:
8 213*
10.2
48.4
France
2.20
2.18
2.16p
35 648p
0.9
50.8
Ireland
1.12
1.16
1.20
1 780
7.3
59.1
Italy
1.11
1.14
:
14 769*
1.3
:
Cyprus
0.26
0.35
0.37p
46p< /td>
15.2
19.8
Latvia
0.41
0.38
0.42
47
8.6
33.2
Lithuania
0.68
0.68
0.76
137
12.2
16.7
Luxembourg
:
1.78
:
426*
3.6
80.4
Hungary
0.95
0.95
0.89
721
1.5
30.7
Malta
:
0.
0.29p
12p
1.4
18.6**
Netherlands
1.81
1.76
1.77p
8 657p
-0.1
50.9
Austria
2.04
2.19p
2.26p
5 346p
5.1
43.9
Poland
0.64
0.56
0.58
1 139
0.4
30.3
Portugal
0.85
0.78
:
1 020*
-4.3
31.7
Slovenia
1.56
1.54p
1.61p
418p
4.6
59.3
Slovakia
0.64
0.58
0.53
174
-1.8
45.1
Finland
3.38
3.48
3.51
5 253
4.0
70.0
Sweden
4.
3.98
3.74
10 426
-2.1
65.0
United Kingdom
1.89
1.88
:
30 092*
2.2
43.9
Bulgaria
0.47
0.50
0.51
99
8.2
26.8
Croatia
:
1.14
:
292*
6.7
42.1
Romania
0.39
0.40
0.40
235
:
45.4
Turkey
0.72
0.66**
:
1 280**
-1.0
41.3**
Iceland
3.08
2.97
3.01
297
1.7
43.9
Norway
1.60
1.75
:
3411*
5.2
49.2
China
1.07
1.31
:
16 444*
:
60.1
Japan
3.07
3.15
:
119 748*
1.8
74.5
United States
2.71
2.59p
:
251 577p*
-0.1
63.1
[...]