News Article
Europe falling behind in Research and Development
According to a report on the BBC the European Union and its members are falling behind the rest of the world in investment for science and technology. The declining state of science and technology investment in the European Union is outlined by new statistics.
According to a report on the BBC the European Union and its members are falling behind the rest of the world in investment for science and technology. The declining state of science and technology investment in the European Union is outlined by new statistics.
The figures show the bloc devoted just 1.93% of its wealth (GDP) in 2003 to this important area - compared with 2.59% in the US and 3.15% in Japan.
Some emerging Asian countries, such as China, are now increasing their R&D investment to a rate where they will soon catch and overtake Europe.
One factor in the stumbling performance is a slow-down in business R&D funding. Europe is likely to miss the goals of the Lisbon objective that stated Europe would boost its spend to 3% of GDP by 2010.
"We must heed this wake-up call," EU research commissioner Janez Potocnik said at a media conference in Brussels.
"If the current trends continue, Europe will lose the opportunity to become a leading global knowledge-based economy."
Perhaps the most startling comparison is with China. Although at 1.3%, its R&D funding is smaller than the EU's, China has been increasing that investment by about 10% per year.
"If these trends in the EU and China continue, China will be spending the same amount of GDP on research as the EU in 2010 - about 2.2%," Mr Potocnik said.
One worrying finding, said the commissioner, was that Europe was becoming a less attractive place to carry out research.
The figures show that between 1997 and 2002, R&D expenditure by EU companies in the US increased much faster than R&D expenditure by US firms in the EU (by 54% compared to 38%).
At the public level, research in Europe is funded by individual national agencies as well as through the EU's Framework 6 programme (FP6). This programme is about to be replaced with a Framework 7.
One of its key features will be the establishment of a European Research Council.
The figures show the bloc devoted just 1.93% of its wealth (GDP) in 2003 to this important area - compared with 2.59% in the US and 3.15% in Japan.
Some emerging Asian countries, such as China, are now increasing their R&D investment to a rate where they will soon catch and overtake Europe.
One factor in the stumbling performance is a slow-down in business R&D funding. Europe is likely to miss the goals of the Lisbon objective that stated Europe would boost its spend to 3% of GDP by 2010.
"We must heed this wake-up call," EU research commissioner Janez Potocnik said at a media conference in Brussels.
"If the current trends continue, Europe will lose the opportunity to become a leading global knowledge-based economy."
Perhaps the most startling comparison is with China. Although at 1.3%, its R&D funding is smaller than the EU's, China has been increasing that investment by about 10% per year.
"If these trends in the EU and China continue, China will be spending the same amount of GDP on research as the EU in 2010 - about 2.2%," Mr Potocnik said.
One worrying finding, said the commissioner, was that Europe was becoming a less attractive place to carry out research.
The figures show that between 1997 and 2002, R&D expenditure by EU companies in the US increased much faster than R&D expenditure by US firms in the EU (by 54% compared to 38%).
At the public level, research in Europe is funded by individual national agencies as well as through the EU's Framework 6 programme (FP6). This programme is about to be replaced with a Framework 7.
One of its key features will be the establishment of a European Research Council.
