OECD scoreboard shows high degree of international R&D collaboration in Europe
The latest 'Science, technology and industry scoreboard' from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) focuses on the increasing globalisation of knowledge, and shows that in many areas, Europe is more internationalised than its competitors. For example, more and more multinational companies are setting up research and development (R&D) laboratories abroad, but they are drawn to some countries more than others. In Hungary and Ireland, for example, foreign companies account for 70 per cent of industrial R&D, while they represent less than five per cent in Japan. Concentration is also high (over 40 per cent) in the Czech Republic, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Japan has also remained somewhat isolated in terms of cooperation and patenting. Less than four per cent of domestic inventions in Japan are owned by foreigners, compared with over 12 per cent in the US and 37.5 per cent in the UK. Observers of EU R&D know that research intensity varies throughout the Union. But the OECD scoreboard shows that countries from the EU are nonetheless leading the way. Research intensity is greatest in Sweden at over four per cent of GDP, followed by Finland, Japan and Iceland (all over three per cent). Europe also fares well in terms of the publication of scientific articles. When counted according to articles published in relation to population size, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland respectively top the OECD table. There is a new player on the international field however. China has become the third largest R&D performer, which the OECD attributes to a rapid growth in researchers' salaries. In 2003 it had the second largest number of researchers (862,000) after the US (1.3 million in 1999), but ahead of Japan (675,000). The OECD states that the globalisation of research has been driven by information communications technology (ICT). The new technologies have created: new channels for knowledge generation, diffusion, protection and application; new interactions through networks; and new global actors from non-OECD countries. Investment in ICT at the same time accounted for between 0.35 per cent and 0.9 per cent of GDP growth between 1995 and 2003. The sector also invests heavily in R&D. In 2002, ICT manufacturing industries accounted for more than a quarter of total business R&D expenditure in most OECD countries.