China is just two years away from catching up on Europe's level of spending on research and development, according to a study published on Monday.
The Key figures 2007 on Science, Technology and Innovation shows that R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as % of GDP) in Europe has stagnated since the mid-nineties, while competitors such as China, Japan and South Korea had substantially increased the share of gross domestic product they spend on R&D while the European Union had since the mid-1990s failed to ramp up investment in research.
Today, an expert group called for a new approach to teaching Science and Technology in Europe.
The R&D investment deficit against the US has remained constant over recent years. In particular, the low level of business R&D in the EU remains worrying. 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. The new actions taken in Europe since 2005 in the context of the revised Lisbon Strategy need to be implemented if Europe is to successfully face this challenge.
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