R&D spending by the 1,400 firms in the 2011 “EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard” increased 4.0% to €455.97 billion ($600.0 billion) in fiscal 2010, compared with a 1.9% decline in fiscal 2009. Fiscal 2010 sales for the firms grew 9.4%, after declining 10.1% the year before. The Scoreboard consists of 400 EU firms and 1,000 firms outside the EU, each of which invested over €30 million in R&D in fiscal 2010. The top 100 firms represented 58% of total R&D spending. The fastest growth in R&D spending was recorded by European, US, Chinese, Indian, South Korean and Taiwanese firms in the Scoreboard, which increased their R&D investments by 6.1%, 10.0%, 29.5%, 20.5%, 20.5% and 17.8%, respectively. There are 50 Taiwanese firms, 25 South Korean firms and 19 Chinese firms in the Scoreboard. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies increased their R&D spending 6.2% to account for 20% of total Scoreboard R&D. R&D spending by oil and gas producers, food producers and chemical firms increased 8.2%, 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively.

Source: EU