Science, technology and innovation

Citation

(2003), "Science, technology and innovation", Education + Training, Vol. 45 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2003.00445cab.011

Science, technology and innovation

Science, technology and innovation

A report from the Commission entitled Science, Technology and Innovation: Key Figures 2002 shows that Europe needs to invest more in research, education, training, human resources, high-technology capital goods and computerization of public services if it is to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. While Denmark, Sweden and Finland are investing considerably more in research and development than the USA as a percentage of national wealth, Germany, France and the UK are below the European average, while Spain and Italy are at the bottom of the European table.

The report shows that the gap between the USA and Europe with regard to overall research and development spending has almost doubled since the mid-1990s. The EU and its member states devote only 1.9 per cent of their resources to research, compared to 2.7 per cent for the USA and 3 per cent for Japan. In Europe, the private-sector contribution to research funding is only 56 per cent of the total, compared to 68 per cent in the USA and 72 per cent in Japan. The EU states have 5.4 research workers per thousand of the active population, compared to 8.08 in the USA and 9.26 in Japan.