In 2020, the Member States of the EU spent around €311 billion on research & development (R&D). This is a decrease of €1 billion compared with 2019 (€312 billion). The R&D intensity, i.e. R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, stood at 2.3% in 2020, compared with 2.2% in 2019. However, this small increase is due to a decrease in GDP as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten years earlier (2010), R&D intensity was 2.0%. R&D is a major driver of innovation, and R&D expenditure and intensity are two of the key indicators used to monitor resources devoted to science and technology worldwide. The business enterprise sector continues to be the main sector in which R&D expenditure was spent, accounting for 66% of total R&D disbursed in 2020, followed by the higher education sector (22%), the government sector (12%) and the private non-profit sector (1%; data might not add up to 100% due to rounding). This information comes from data on R&D expenditure published by Eurostat today. In 2020, the highest R&D intensity was recorded in Belgium and Sweden (3.5% of GDP), followed by Austria (3.2%) and Germany (3.1%). At the opposite end of the scale, six Member States recorded a R&D intensity below 1% of GDP: Romania (0.5%), Malta and Latvia (both 0.7%), Cyprus, Bulgaria and Slovakia (all 0.9%). Over the last ten years, R&D intensity rose in 24 Member States, with the highest increase recorded in Belgium (+1.5 percentage points; from 2.0% of GDP in 2010 to 3.5% in 2020), Greece (+0.9 pp; from 0.6% to 1.5%), Poland and Czechia (both +0.7 pp; from 0.7% to 1.4% and from 1.3% to 2.0%, respectively). In contrast, R&D intensity decreased in three Member States; Finland (-0.8 pp; from 3.7% to 2.9%), Ireland and Luxembourg (both -0.4 pp; from 1.6% to 1.2% and from 1.5% to 1.1%, respectively).
Interim president Ilie Bolojan has convened the Supreme Council of National Defense on Wednesday, April 30, to discuss essential defense topics such as Romania’s participation in the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, the draft Law on National Defense of Romania, and the National Plan on Military Mobility. Other topics concern the draft Law on certain measures […]
The photography exhibition World Unseen, which allows both blind and sighted visitors to experience images through touch and sound, is opening its doors in Iași after attracting over 100,000 visitors in Bucharest. Hosted at the Palace of Culture, the exhibition will be on display from April 29 to July 29. Organized by Canon Romania in […]
Brașov-Ghimbav International Airport in central Romania recorded a total of 56,897 passengers in the first quarter of this year, more than double the number from the same period in 2024, when 27,885 travelers were registered. According to statistics published by the Romanian Airports Association, the Brașov-Ghimbav Airport has returned to 9th place in the national […]
DAAS Epta Romania, part of the international Epta group, is set to open the first Training Center for refrigeration technicians in the country with an EUR 500,000 investment. The company also announced the accelerated expansion of the remote monitoring service center, or TLM. The Training Center is a pilot project developed based on the model […]
Knauf Insulation, part of the Knauf Group, has invested EUR 140 mln in state-of-the-art production facilities and brought together world-class expertise to transform the Târnăveni plant in Romania into the most technologically advanced facility in Central Eastern Europe. Industrial services provider Bilfinger has played a significant role in the project by undertaking a comprehensive range […]
The seventh edition of Neversea, one of Europe’s largest beach music festivals, will not take place in 2025, the organizers announced. The event is now scheduled to return in 2026 in Constanța, Romania, after challenges in securing a suitable beach venue. Organizers from Untold Universe explained in a press release that they were unable to […]
