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).
If December were a performance, Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard would be its grand stage. This winter, Bucharest’s newest grand dame has reimagined the festive season not only as decoration, but as storytelling: one told through light, music, architecture and flavour. Inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the hotel’s concept unfolds in three chapters […]
The HALO Events Center in Bucharest is set to open the largest event space in Europe equipped with a 360° panoramic LED display within the Romexpo complex. The new location is designed for large-scale, fully digitalized events, and it is the result of an EUR 4 million investment. The venue has a maximum indoor capacity of […]
The concept of the mega-project DraculaLand, a privately funded development exceeding EUR 1 billion that aims to become the largest entertainment, retail, and technology destination in Europe, was recently unveiled. The investment is planned for a 160-hectare site not far from Bucharest and aims to position Romania as a new global hub for large-scale entertainment, […]
FEPRA has opened new PET and glass recycling facilities in Brad, Hunedoara county, an initiative expected to boost the recycling capacity of both the region and Romania. The two units, inaugurated on December 1 in the presence of local authorities, come as Brad–Hunedoara continues to search for long-term economic alternatives after years of industrial decline. […]
Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, announced on Wednesday, December 3, that all its “Sea Baby” maritime drones engaged in operational missions in the Black Sea region have been identified, that it has not lost any of them, and that none entered Romanian territorial waters. The announcement came after Romania’s Defense Ministry said in a press […]
Rescuers part of the Brașov County Salvamont Service spent the night in the Bucegi Mountains on Wednesday to Thursday, December 3-4, to continue searches for missing 18-year-old British citizen George Smyth. In the morning, the team of 17 mountain rescuers who slept in a chalet resumed the search in the Țigănești area despite difficult conditions […]
