From Strength to Strength?

From Strength to Strength?

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, claimed in a Feb 2022 speech that European Union research and innovation is going "from strength to strength." Her comments reflect the potential for the European Union to transform itself into a science superpower. Although i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Issues in science and technology 2022-06, Vol.38 (4), p.24-26
Main Author: Spichtinger, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Alliances
Budgets
Councils
Economic aspects
Funding
GDP
Government finance
Gross Domestic Product
Higher education
Innovations
International aspects
Lobbying
Political aspects
Presidents
R&D
Research & development
Research & development expenditures
Science
Scientific cooperation
Technological innovations
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Summary:The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, claimed in a Feb 2022 speech that European Union research and innovation is going "from strength to strength." Her comments reflect the potential for the European Union to transform itself into a science superpower. Although in principle EU member states all agree on the benefits of investing in science and innovation, historically there has been a gap between this aspiration and actual practice. Notably, as far back as the 2002 Barcelona Summit of the European Council, member states committed to invest 3% of their national gross domestic product (GDP) in research. This measure, known as research intensity, is often used in international comparisons as an indicator of innovation. But 20 years later the European Union is nowhere near that target. The latest figures available from Eurostat show that in 2020 only five member states had a research and development intensity of 3% or higher, and six member states even recorded an intensity below 1% of GDP. On average, the research intensity of the 27 member states stood at 2.3% in 2020, compared with 2.0% a decade earlier.
ISSN:0748-5492
1938-1557