INNOVATION : R&D: LARGE COMPANIES BOOST INVESTMENTS.

Despite the economic crisis, large European companies are continuing their investments in research and development. Even better, they are increasing such investments. According to the 2012 EU industrial R&D investment scoreboard', published on 6 December 2012, R&D investments by major firms grew from 6.1% in 2010 to 8.9% in 2011. This rate, commented Research and Innovation Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, almost matches the rate of US companies (9%), is above the global average (7.6%) and is well above the rate of Japanese companies (1.7%). The scoreboard also shows that R&D-intensive sectors tend to show above average employment growth.

The scoreboard in fact concerns the top 1,500 global R&D investors. The global top 50 includes 15 EU enterprises, 18 US firms and 12 from Japan. Japanese car manufacturer Toyota tops the ranking, with Volkswagen the top EU company in third place (7.2 billion invested). Recently released Eurostat data show that combined EU public and private research spending increased to 2.03% of GDP in 2011, from 2.01% in 2010. This was mainly due to increased private sector spending.

"We now need to match private sector ambition with increased investment in R&D at national and European levels. EU...