EU companies are planning on picking up the pace of their investment in research and development over the next three years, a European Commission survey released today shows.
EU companies expect R&D spending to grow at a rate of about 5% a year over the next three years, a marked improvement over the 0.7% recorded in 2005, the European Commission said.
'If we are to reach our objective of investing 3% of GDP in research and development, we need increased investment by the private sector,' said EU Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik. 'For this reason the results of this survey are encouraging,' he added.
The survey found that companies preferred investing in R&D in their home countries, and that the top destinations for EU spending remain Germany, followed by Britain and France.
Outside the EU, the US was by far the most attractive place for R&D activity, followed by China and India, the commission said.
Factors determining where companies decide to set up R&D operations were listed as access to markets and availability of trained researchers. 'Labour costs of researchers, though often cited as a factor, seem to have quite low influence on such decisions,' the commission said.
The survey was based on responses from 449 EU firms in 10 sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to electronic and electrical equipment.
