The results of the recently published 'Science, Technology and Competitiveness key figures report 2008/2009' indicate substantial improvements in certain areas but show that R&D intensity in the EU27 is stagnating.

Public and private investment in R&D and innovation are considered to be essential for helping economies to stabilise and get out of crisis periods. Yet the intensity of research investment (the amount invested in R&D compared to GDP) has not increased in recent years, and remains at around 1.84%.

The competitiveness report examines data from the period 2000 to 2006 and therefor does not reflect the impact of the current economic crisis. However, it shows clearly that while European universities are producing more research graduates, many of them might be lost to competing regions due to lagging job opportunities. Foreign investment in the EU27 was also shown to have increased substantially, with Europe claiming 62% of US foreign R&D investment.