Europe behind in research and industrial investments. It struggles to keep pace with other markets and so, even if it posted a +6,1% last year, it lags behind its competitors in the United States and Asia. This was revealed by the European Commission's "2011 EU Scoreboard on investment in research and industrial development", released today.
The study by the EU body paints the classic glass in half: in fact, on the one hand, the investments of the major companies of the European Union recorded "a strong recovery in 2010, with a growth of 6,1% following a decrease of 2,6 .2009% in 1.400”. However, data relating to the XNUMX largest global companies reveal that "overall, EU companies remain behind their main competitors in the United States and some Asian countries" in terms of growth in research and development.
Currently, the European Commission continues in its dossier, the list of the top 50 companies worldwide in terms of total investment in industrial research and development includes 15 EU companies, 18 US companies and 13 Japanese companies. At the very top are the Swiss Roche (7,2 billion euros) and the US Pfizer (7 billion euros). Volkswagen (6,3 billion euros) in sixth position, is the main investor in the EU area, followed by Nokia (eleventh with 4,9 billion), Daimler (thirteenth with 4,8 billion) and Sanofi-Aventis (fourteenth with 4,4 billion).
No Italian company among the top 50 in the world. Finmeccanica and Fiat (with 1,9 billion) are in any case sixteenth and seventeenth among the top 1.000 companies in the European Union for investments in research and industrial development. Following, among the Italian companies, Telecom (forty-first with 698 million), Intesa San Paolo (eighty-third with 252 million), Unicredit (eighty-eighth with 233 million) and Eni (ninety-first with 221 million).
Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, sees the glass as half empty. The recovery of investments in research and development by EU companies, you comment, "is a positive sign for the promotion and growth of employment through innovation in Europe which we support". However, she criticizes the European Commissioner, "the fact that we are still behind some global competitors shows that the conditions for businesses must improve further, in line with the Union's objectives in terms of innovation". For this reason, urges Geoghegan-Quinn, "we need a rapid adoption and implementation of the recent and future proposals of the Commission on the single patent, on the rules, on public tenders and on risk capital".
