Out of the 1500 companies gathered in the Scoreboard, 405 are based in the EU. These companies invested €144.6 billion in 2011 (equivalent to 28.85% of the overall investment in R&D by the Scoreboard companies).

The European Union is an attractive R&D location for firms from outside the EU. Europe remains the most attractive place for foreign R&D investment of US firms that represent 2/3rd of R&D FDI in the world. While between 1995 and 2000, the share of the EU in overseas R&D expenditures of US firms had declined from 70% to 60%, since 2000 it been stable at about 61-62%, which in the context of the emergence of new scientific and technological powers is quite remarkable. Further, multinationals from India, China, Brazil or other emerging economies are just about to make first steps into the EU as a location for their R&D activities.

Strengths of the EU as a location for R&D include developed markets with a sophisticated demand (‘lead markets’), the quality and quantity of its pool of skilled labour, public support to R&D and the quality of its scientific and technological base. These strengths and their exploitation have been reinforced through the reforms of the research and innovation systems made since 2000 in line with first the EU Lisbon strategy and then the Europe 2020 strategy.

Source: EC Press Release