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Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy
Economics of Industrial Research and Innovation

The project aims at providing EU policy-makers, academia, and other institutional and economic actors with robust empirical scientific-sound evidence and analysis on the contribution of private-sector R&D to sustainable competitiveness and "prosperity" in the EU.

  • Topic / Tool | Last updated: 15 May 2026
R&D Monitoring
IRI

Brief me - Custom

The EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard

The EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard provides economic and financial data and analysis of the top corporate R&D investors from the EU and from abroad. It is based on company data extracted directly from each company's Annual Report.

The Scoreboard is published annually in order to provide a reliable, up-to-date benchmarking tool for comparisons between companies, sectors, and geographical areas, as well as to monitor and analyse emerging investment trends and patterns. It also aims to raise public awareness and support for R&D investment among individual companies and policy makers, and encourages companies to disclose information about their R&D investments.

 

Data

DATA

The 2025 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard

The 2024 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard

ALL R&D Investment Scoreboard

The EU Survey on Industrial R&D Investment Trends

From 2006 to 2022, the survey tracked annual changes in business R&D investment among the EU's top 1,000 R&D investors, covering investment trends, technology strategies, and acquisition processes. It remains a valuable reference for companies and analysts monitoring corporate R&D activity. All survey editions are available here.

Survey 2022
Survey 2021
Survey 2020
All Survey
The 2022 EU Survey on Industrial R&D Investment TrendsThe 2021 EU Survey on Industrial R&D Investment TrendsThe 2020 EU Survey on Industrial R&D Investment Trends

ALL EU Survey on Industrial R&D  Investment Trends

 

More information 

Policymakers need to continuously monitor industrial R&D investments in order to assess the impact of their policy decisions and take further action. The long-term competitiveness strategy [COM(2023)168 final] acknowledges research and innovation as some of the key drivers of industrial competitiveness. In this perspective, the strategy sets the of investing 3% of the EU member states’ GDP in R&D activities. However, EU R&I investment falls short of its aspirations and compares poorly to global competitors (2.2% of GDP, well below the 3% objective). Private sector R&D spending accounts for less than 60% of the overall R&D spending, lagging behind global peers like the US and China. Therefore, the September 2024 Draghi report (https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/draghi-report_en) urges EU policy measures to regain global competitiveness, requiring annual investment into the new competitiveness strategy of EUR 750-800 billion, mostly from the private sector. Based on this, the February 2025 Competitiveness Compass (COM(2025) 30 final) places innovation and removing barriers at the heart of European renewal. It sets out a roadmap for European policies, in parallel to the preparation of the next Framework Programme and expected long-term budgetary decisions for the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework. Our monitoring and analyses of the performance and positioning of the largest R&D investing companies in the world have supported the diagnostics and narratives of these important policy initiatives since 2004.  

 

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