EU Firms 'Flagging On Research'

by liamssoft | June 11, 2007 at 02:23 pm

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To encourage European companies to spend more on research and development, the EU should give some tax incentives. R&D cost money and may not pay back for many years if at all.

The European Union's vision of building a hi-tech economy could be left in the dirt if businesses do not spend more on research and development (R&D).

That is the conclusion of a European Commission report comparing R&D in the EU with that of its competitors.

Europe will be outdone by China, Japan and South Korea unless EU member states take urgent action, it says.

The report says boosting R&D spend is essential if Europe's economy is to remain competitive in the future.

In 2000, the European Council set out the Lisbon Strategy, an action plan designed to tackle low productivity and stagnating economic growth in the EU.

It sought to make Europe "the most competitive and the most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world" by 2010.