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JRC: New trend for European Business – towards open innovation and collaboration with customers?

23/09/2024

Top EU businesses expect their investments in research and development to grow by an average of 4% annually over 2012 to 2014, according tothe 2012 EU Survey on R&D Investment Business Trends published today.

Top EU businesses expect their investments in research and development to grow by an average of 4% annually over 2012 to 2014, according tothe 2012 EU Survey on R&D Investment Business Trends published today. The results of this survey, which was carried out by the JRC’s Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) together with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, are based on information from 187 of the 1,000 EU-based companies that were studied when the 2011 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard was prepared.

 

The 187 companies that responded to the survey are mainly larger companies. Together they are responsible for R&D investment worth almost €45 billion, constituting around 40% of the total R&D investment by the 1,000 top EU based investors, which is a significant share of European business investment. Their average investment expectation is slightly lower than that of last year (5%), when these companies participated in a similar survey, which reflects the worsening of the economic context. However, it is still a strong signal of the importance that these companies attach to strengthening R&D as a key factor for their future growth and prosperity.

 

Most of the companies expect to maintain a strong increase for R&D activities over the next three years with the highest growth expectations in in software and computer service industry. The reporting companies report also significant shares of sales coming from innovative products and services introduced in the past three years. 

 

Collaboration with suppliers and customers is given more importance than to formal licencing, which could indicate a trend towards more open innovation. 

 

It is in the software and computer services sector that the expectations of growth in R&D investments over 2012-2014 are the highest, with an average of 11% per year. Like for most sectors, this is higher than the annual R&D investment growth rates observed on average over the 2007-2010 period. However, in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector, the expectations for 2012-2014, at 3% per annum, are lower than the average rate observed over 2007-2010.

By end-2012 the European Commission will publish its next EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, which ranks the worldwide biggest companies investing in R&D.

 

Sources: Joint Reserach Center (JRC), SwissCore Synopsis on European Research, Innovation and Education (Aug 2012). 

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