Companies in the European Union have increased their investment in research and development (R&D) for the eighth consecutive year. In 2017, they invested 5.5% more in R&D activities than the year before. This growth is driven by the automobile, health and ICT sectors, European Commission reports in its 2018 Industrial R&D Scoreboard.

The Scoreboard shows that the total investment into R&D of the top 2500 companies, accounting for 90% of the world’s business-funded R&D, amounted to €736.4 billion in 2017. 577 firms based in the EU ranked within the 2500 world's top industrial R&D players and account for more than a quarter (27%) of global investment. US companies (778) constitute 37% of business R&D investment, Japanese (339) 14%, Chinese (438) 10% and companies from the rest of the world (368) 12%, the report says.

Worldwide an important sector shift occurred in ICT industries, mainly in ICT services that increased their R&D share from 10.8% to 14.2% but also in ICT producers (from 23.0% to 23.7%).  On the other hand, sectors that underwent a decreases in R&D shares were mainly low-tech sectors and also, to a lesser extent, Industrials, Aerospace & Defence and Chemicals. >> More.

USA companies among top 2,500 R&D investors: 

EU companies among top 2,500 R&D investors:

As for the Czech Republic, Aerospace & Defence Industry is the largest investor into R&D in 2017/2018, according to the European Commission's Scoreboard.

The top three patenting companies in the Czech Republic are Skoda Auto (CZ), Zentiva (CZ) and Siemens (DE).

Image source: European Commission's 2018 Industrial R&D Scoreboard.

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