R&D costs up by 50% in last five years

Higher wages and equipment costs have driven the unit costs of R&D up by an average of 47 per cent over the last five years, a study for the European Commission’s research and innovation directorate has found. Analysis of the Evolution of the Costs of Research was conducted for the Commission by the European Techno-Economic Policy Support Network (Eteps-Net) and was published last month. It finds costs have grown significantly across industry and in publicly funded labs.