R&D Investment and Performance around the world – a European Commision report

Written by Denisa Călin on July 11, 2010. Posted in Articles, KPI

The Science, Technology and Competitiveness key figures report 2008/2009, released by the European Commission, presents a thorough analysis and overview of the evolution of  R&D investment and performance in Europe. The report is considered an attempt to monitor the progress and efficiency of implementing performance measures by the European research system.

Research is considered a key competitive asset in a global world as science, technology and patent applications are more widely distributed every year. Between 2000 and 2006 the investment in R&D increased in Europe by 14,8%, comparable with the US and Japan, where figures show a growth of 10.1 % and 21.9 % respectively.

The analysis of the participation shares in global R&D indicates that almost 80 % of researchers work outside the EU, 75 % of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) is executed in other world regions, and 69 % of patent applications are made outside the EU. This indicates a declining world share of GERD and patent applications, both for the US and for the European Union (European Commission, 2008).

The main conclusions of the report are:

• Despite encouraging progress on increasing the amount of investment in R&D, the R&D intensity of EU-27 has remained unchanged, as countries with increasing R&D intensities do not have very high shares of EU-27 GDP.
• Higher returns for private investment in R&D favor structural change, such as high-growth SMEs and higher demand and a single market for research-intensive products (European Commission, 2008).
• European Research Area (ERA) integration is a key competitive factor for increasing the effectiveness of the European research system, due to its cost-effectiveness and framework conditions attractiveness.

The Key Performance Indicators used within this report are:

• % R&D intensity (GERD as a % of GDP)
• % Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD – % Real Growth)
• # Patents applications
• # Researchers

For further examples of performance indicators, explore the R&D KPI examples section of the library of KPI examples available on smartkpis.com (smartKPIs.com, 2010).

References:

• European Commission (2008), The Science, Technology and Competitiveness key figures report 2008/2009
• smartKPIs.com (2010), R&D KPI examples

Image Source:

• AECM
• European Commission, 2008

Tags: Government, KPI in Practice, Research