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Finland’s R&D expenditure among the highest in EU

18/02/2009

The newly published study, entitled “R&D in Europe - Expenditures Across Sectors, Regions and Firm Sizes”, has been conducted by Kristian Uppenberg a Senior Economist in the Economic and Financial Studies division of the European Investment Bank. It is based on R&D data for the period 2000-2005 and also examines in detail why the EU has traditionally lagged behind the United States in its R&D spending.

Finland’s average spending on R&D in was 3.4% of GDP in 2000-2005, making it one of the few countries to reach the target of 3% set by the EU. According to the study, Finland has made significant progress in raising its R&D spending levels since the late 1980s, even attaining R&D intensities above that of the United States.

 The study notes that Finland has achieved its very high levels of R&D intensity primarily in manufacturing (with 85% of total R&D spending compared with 63% in the United States).

Finland’s R&D intensity is especially strong in the ICT manufacturing sector.

Uppenburg’s research also reveals Finland as a global leader in the number of firms collaborating in innovation activities with higher education institutions. Another statistical point of interest is that in  Finland less than 20% of the total business sector R&D expenditure is made by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Finnish government to fund R&D activity with EUR 1.9 billion in 2009

The total funding for research and development goes up to EUR 1.9 billion in the 2009 Government Budget. R&D funding increases by EUR 102 million from the previous year, which means nearly 6 per cent growth in nominal terms and 2 per cent growth in real terms. The proportion of funds allocated to R&D activities of overall government spending exclusive of debt servicing stands unchanged from the previous year at 4.4 per cent. The share of public R&D funding of GDP rises to 1.02 per cent

Further information: Statistics Finland