14 Dec 2023
EU companies doubled R&D investment growth in 2022
The European Commission has published the 2023 edition of the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. According to the Scoreboard, Europe's industry significantly increased its investment in research and development in 2022. EU private R&D investment growth has reached the highest rate since 2015 and more than doubled compared to 2021, with 13.6% increase in 2022. In comparison, China has decreased its growth from over 25% to just over 16% and US companies slowed down from 16% to 12.6%.
The world's top 2,500 R&D investors monitored by the Scoreboard set a new record for total R&D investment, reaching almost €1,250 billion, €141 billion more than in 2021. Overall, US companies are responsible for over 42% of the R&D investment of the largest 2,500 corporate R&D investors, while the EU and China closely compete for second place (17.5% and 17.8%, respectively).
The EU accounts for 367 of the 2,500 world top R&D investors headquartered across 17 countries, including, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary and Malta. Half of the companies are in Germany, France and the Netherlands, concentrating 73% of private R&D investment in the EU.
EU sectoral distribution shows a broad representation of investors, indicating a higher degree of diversity than the US. The automotive sector accounts for 32% of R&D investments, followed by health (19.7%), ICT producers (14.4%) and ICT services (8%). R&D investors are also prominent in sectors such as aerospace, defence, financials, energy, chemicals and construction.
Among the EU top 1,000 R&D investors, 18% of them are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), about two-third of which come from the health sector.
The Scoreboard for 2023 shows that companies have continued to invest in R&D in time of crises, revealing that such investment is seen as strategic to maintain competitiveness.
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