R&D Expenditure and Personnel - Issue number 91/2008

This Statistics in Focus describes the current situation of national expenditure and personnel in R&D. Europe is still working to achieve the target set by the Lisbon Strategy of devoting 3% of GDP to research and development activities by 2010. With an R&D intensity of 1.84% of GDP in 2006 (exactly the same share as in 2005) the EU-27 is still below the Lisbon target. As defined by the new Lisbon Strategy, the business enterprise sector (BES) is expected to finance two thirds of R&D expenditure. Although the target has not been reached yet, in 2005 54.6% of R&D activities in the EU-27 were financed by the BES. Looking at R&D personnel, in 2006 the EU-27 counted 2 200 000 persons working in R&D (measured in full time equivalent FTE). The business enterprise sector employed just over half of them. Between 2001 and 2006, the annual average growth rate (AAGR) for FTE R&D personnel was 2%. During 2005, people employed on R&D activities in the EU 27 accounted for 1.45% of total employment. 33% of the persons employed in R&D in the EU-27 were women, i.e. an increase of 3% over the previous year.

Publikacja, R&D Expenditure and Personnel - Issue number 91/2008, jest dostepna na stronie Eurostat.