Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development.

e-mail contact: ESTAT-SDI-EU2020-INDICATORS@ec.europa.eu

This indicator is part of the indicator sets:

a) EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set where it is used to monitor progress towards SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure. SDG 9 recognises, among other things, the importance of technological progress and innovation for finding lasting solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges such as the creation of new jobs and promotion of resource and energy efficiency.

b) EU 2020 strategy indicators where it is used to monitor progress towards the EU's target of 'improving the conditions for innovation, research and development', in particular with the aim of 'increasing combined public and private investment in R&D to 3 % of GDP' by 2020.

Indicator can be considered as global SDG indicator 9.5.1 "Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP". Furthermore, indicator is part of the impact indicators for Strategic plan 2016-2020 referring to the 10 Commission priorities.

Research and development (R&D) and innovation are key policy components of the Europe 2020 strategy. Innovative products and services not only contribute to the strategy’s smart growth goal but also to its inclusiveness and sustainability objectives. Introducing new ideas to the market promotes industrial competitiveness, job creation, labour productivity and the efficient use of resources.

The indicator measures gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP). "Research and experimental development (R&D) comprise creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications" (Frascati Manual, 2002 edition, § 63).

a) % of GDP by sector

b) % of GDP

Calendar year.

The indicator is produced according to the high-level quality standards of European Statistics. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link to related metadata).

ESS

Data source: European Statistical System (ESS).

Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by the countries.

Every year

The indicator is updated annually in November.

> T+2 years

According to Commission Implementing Regulation No 995/2012 preliminary data on R&D expenditure,  R&D personnel and researchers in FTE are provided to Eurostat 10 months after the end of the calendar year (October) and are targeted to be released in November.

Final R&D data are provided to Eurostat 18 months after the end of the calendar year (June) and are targeted to be released in November.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro, FYROM, Serbia, Turkey, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries except USA. The US data excludes most of the capital expenditure, thus data for the US is somewhat underestimated.

> 10 years

Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2000.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Analysis of the indicator is presented in

a) Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

b) Eurostat's annual monitoring report on the Europe 2020 strategy 'Smarter greener, more inclusive? - Indicators to support the Europe 2020 strategy'.

See tables:

a) sdg_09_10

b) t2020_20

Eurostat dedicated section on:

a) SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

b) EU 2020 strategy: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/europe-2020-indicators/europe-2020-strategy

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