Recent figures reveal that the EU spends just 1.93% of its GDP on research and development, compared with 2.59% in the US and over 3% in Japan. Europe is clearly struggling to meet its own target of 3% by 2010 (the so called Lisbon objective, the mere mention of which can reduce a room full of Eurocrats to an embarrassed silence).
There is a small glimmer of light however. Cientificas own forecasts (contact us for more details) illustrate that Government spend in the EU on nanotechnologies when taken as a % of GDP (purchasing power parity) is actually accelerating past the US and rest of the world, when taken as a whole. Only the traditional tech bulls Japan, Korea and Taiwan beat the EU by this metric.
Of course there is not always a corrleation between government R&D spending and creating any kind of economic effect, but its good to report some positive news for of Brussels. Now, has anyone seen our budget?