R&D investing companies by country/region

The 2022 Scoreboard comprises the 2 500 companies investing the largest sums in R&D in the world in 2021. These companies, based in 41 countries, each invested over €48.5 million in R&D for a total of €1093.9 billion, which is approximately 86% of the world's business-funded R&D.

Key figures by country/region

The 2500 companies raised their total R&D by a substantial 14.8% over the previous year, the eleventh consecutive year of significant increases.
Worldwide, net sales experienced a significant increase (19.8%), showing a substantial recovery after the COVID-19 crisis.
The number of employees by the 2500 companies increased by 3.1%.

R&D investment

EU

The 361 EU companies invested €192.8 bn in R&D, an increase of 8.9% compared to the previous year.
The four largest R&D investing sectors (ICT producers, Health industries, ICT services and Automobiles & other transport) account for 77.8% of the total R&D of the 2500 companies.

WORLD

R&D is highly concentrated by country. The top 3, top 5 and top 10 countries account respectively for 68.5%, 80% and 93.2% of the total R&D investment.
The four largest R&D investing sectors (ICT producers, Health industries, ICT services and Automobiles & other transport) account for 77.8% of the total R&D of the 2500 companies.

R&D investment and net sales trends

Over the past 10 years, the R&D share of EU and Japanese companies over the total R&D decreased. The decrease in their R&D share corresponds to increase in R&D share corresponds to increase in R&D shares for the other country/regions, especially for companies based in China.

Volume of R&D investment

In the period 2012-2021, the 1373 companies increased R&D expanditure by 83.4%, net sales by 33.5% and employment by 17.7%. Figures refer to the database of 1373 companies for which data are available for the whole period.

10 years evolution by sector – EU vs US

EU companies lead in R&D investment in the Automobiles & other transport sector. However, EU companies lag significantly behind the US in the ICT sectors. US companies strengthened their position as world R&D investing leaders, increasing substantially their global R&D weight in ICT services and Health industries.

SDG progress (2016-2021)

EU-based companies scored high in many environmental SDGs in 2021: affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), life on land (SDG 15), responsible consumption & production (SDG 12) and climate action (SDG 13). EU companies also achieved high scores across the board in the socio-economic SDGs.