(05 June 2014) – While Sweden may be a global leader in R&D investment, the EU as a whole is still lagging behind the Japan and the US: new data shows that 6.6% of the total R&D government support is invested in ICT in the EU, compared to 9.1% in Japan and 7.9% in the US.
The 5 biggest public funders of R&D in ICT in 2012: Germany takes by far the lead with €1.2 billion followed by the UK (€0.69 billion – €11 per person), Spain (€0.6 billion- €13 per person). Sweden is next on €0.55bn.
Sweden spends far more than any other EU country on a per capita basis, at €58 per person. Sweden spends more than Italy (€0.52bn), yet Italy has 6 times the population (60 million to 9.5 million).
Sweden and Belgium are investing the most heavily in ICT (15% and 11% of total spend respectively). The European Commission spends 16% of its research budget on ICT research. Around €13 billion the Commission’s Horizon 2020 research programme (2014-2020) will go to ICT projects over a seven-year period.
Universities, companies and researchers in Germany (€1.6 billion), the UK (€1 billion), Italy (€0.8 billion), France (€0.7 billion) and Spain (€0.6 billion) receive 60% of the total EU funding and account for 57% of participations during the period 2007-2013.