ANNOUNCEMENT
The European Commission has recently published the 2024 Science, Research, and Innovation Performance (SRIP) report. It showcases the benefits of increased EU investments in R&I over the past two decades including improved competitiveness in green technology.
The report also discusses three main challenges for EU R&I:
- Underutilised R&I ecosystems: the EU is a top global player in scientific research, but it is facing several obstacles in exploiting its rich R&I ecosystem at its best.
- Persistent R&I divide: R&I activities have a tendency to concentrate in certain places – which can be reinforced through provision of support to the highest achieving activities and actors.
- Technological gap compared to other regions of the world: while the EU has made strong progress with the green transition, there is still progress to be made in the digital area.
Some of the key findings of the report are:
- The EU maintains a leading position in global patent filings related to renewables (29%) and energy efficiency (24%).
- The EU is only surpassed by China in terms of scientific output and represents 18% of the global scientific production.
- Compared to the US and China, the EU is less specialised in key productivity-enhancing technologies, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence, internet of things, blockchain technologies and quantum computers.
- The venture capital market in the EU is limited compared to other regions of the world, hindering private investments in innovative companies.
Read the full press release here.