* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.

R&D investing companies by country

The 2020 Scoreboard comprises the 2500 companies investing the largest sums in R&D in the world in 2019. These companies, based in 43 countries, each invested over €34.7 million in R&D for a total of €904.2 billion which is approximately 90% of the world's business-funded R&D.

Key figures by country

The 2500 companies raised their total R&D by a substantial 8.9% over the previous year, the tenth consecutive year of significant increases.
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.
Worldwide, net sales continued the positive trend shown in the past year, although at a lower rate than in the past.
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.
The number of employees by the 2500 companies shows a little increase (+0.8%).
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.

R&D investment

EU *

The 421 EU companies invested €188.9 bn in R&D, an important increase in this period (5.6%), at a faster pace than in the previous year.
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.
For the EU sample, the largest contribution to R&D growth was made by Automobiles, Health industries and ICT producers.
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.

GLOBAL

R&D is very much concentrated by country. The top 3, top 5 and top 10 countries account respectively for 64%, 78% and 92% of the total R&D investment.
The four largest R&D investing sectors (ICT producers, Health industries, Automobiles & other transport and ICT services) account for 77% of the total R&D of the 2500 companies.
Figures refer to the database of 1500 companies for which data are available for the whole period.

R&D investment and net sales trends

Over the past 10 years, the R&D share of EU companies over the total R&D decreased slightly. The main change in this indicator is observed for the Japanese companies whose R&D share fell by ca. 5 percentage points. The loss of R&D share by Japanese companies corresponds to increases in R&D shares for the other countries/regions, especially for companies based in China.
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.

Volume of R&D investment

In the period 2010-2019, the world 1500 companies increased R&D by 70%, net sales by 33% and employment by 20%.

10 Years evolution by sector

EU companies reinforced their specialisation in medium-high tech sectors, increasing significantly their R&D contribution to the global R&D of Automobiles & other transport. On the other side, EU companies reduced significantly their global R&D share in ICT industries. US companies strengthened their position in high tech sectors, increasing substantially their global R&D weight in ICT services and Health industries. On the other extreme, US companies reduced their R&D share in Automobiles & other transport.
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.

Green Technologies

The global share of green inventions** in overall patenting activity is 7%. Among major economies, the EU is second, behind South Korea, with 9.5% of green patents over the total.
Scoreboard companies own about 40% of global patents and about 50% of green patents.
** According to the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) system. EPO/USPTO partnership.
* The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States.
Source: The 2020 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard
© European Union, 2020. Reuse is authorised, provided the source of the document is acknowledged and its original meaning or message is not distorted.