Posted By: Technology Staff Editor In: Information Technology written by Anne-Francoise Pele, courtesy of EETimes
PARIS — The European Union spent 229 billion euros on research and development in 2007, representing 1.85 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said it aims to achieve an R&D intensity of at least 3 percent of GDP by 2010, according to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In its 2009 edition of Science, Technology and Innovation in Europe, Eurostat noted that 2007 R&D spending remained stable compared with 2006. Germany, with 62 billion euros, France, with 39 billion euros, and the United Kingdom, with 37 billion euros, accounted for 60 percent of total R&D expenditure in the EU27 in 2007.
In 2007, reported Eurostat, only two countries spent more than 3 percent of GDP on R&D, namely Sweden and Finland with 3.60 percent and 3.47 percent, respectively. Denmark, Germany, France and Austria spent over 2 percent of GDP on R&D in 2007.
According to the Office, the countries that have increased their R&D spending the most since 2001 are Austria, from 2.07 percent in 2001 to 2.56 percent in 2007, Estonia, from 0.71 percent to 1.14 percent, and Portugal, from 0.80 percent to 1.18 percent.
Moving to employments, Eurostat observed that about 2.3 million people working full-time were involved in R&D, equivalent to 1.6 percent of total employment, in the EU27 in 2007.
Statistics show that researchers accounted for 0.9 percent of total EU27 employment in 2007. This share varied from 0.3 percent in Romania to 2.1 percent in Finland.
Comments
There have been no comments made on this article. Be the first to share your thoughts by using the form below.
