Abstract

This report provides an analysis of the state of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Research and Development activities in the European Union. This is the fourth report of a series which is published annually. This year’s report provides data up to 2008.

The report starts with a presentation of general trends concerning the EU ICT sector in a global perspective and in the EU Member States, followed by an analysis of the impact of the recent financial crisis on the ICT sector. The report then analyses R&D in the ICT sector, using data from the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, which tracks R&D spending by the top R&D-investing companies worldwide. The report also provides a unique overview of ICT patenting in the European Union and a comparison of ICT patenting performance, by Member State and with other world regions. Finally, the report presents a set of empirical analyses on internationalisation of R&D in the ICT sector, on which there is still scarce evidence available, particularly with regard to ICT R&D internationalisation with emerging Asian economies.