German regions lead European R&D - Issue number 35/2009 - Products Statistics in Focus

In 2005, there were 20 European regions that devoted 3 % or more of GDP to research and development. Germany scored highest, with eight of its regions among the top 20. However, regional disparities in R&D expenditure exist not only between countries, but also between regions of the same country, ranging from 0.21 percentage points between Irish regions to 5.2 percentage points between German regions. In the business enterprise sector (BES), regions with a high R&D intensity (more than 3 %) were mainly concentrated in Germany and in northern Europe (Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom). Praha (CZ) was the region with the highest percentage of R&D personnel as a share of total employment, with 4.8 %. Germany had five regions in the top 20, making it the leading country in terms of R&D personnel. Regional disparities also appeared when looking at R&D personnel as a share of total employment. More than 4 percentage points separated the top and bottom regions in the Czech Republic, while the gap between Irish regions was only 0.15 percentage points.