Austria ramps up research spending target to send message to EU

Austria is aiming to boost its national R&D spending to 3.7 per cent of GDP to send a clear message of continued support for research spending to the EU, according to Austria's research minister Karlheinz Töchterle.

On 18 February, the day of the EU’s biannual Competitiveness Council, Töchterle said he wants to urge European leaders to continue to invest in research despite the financial crisis. “We must not be saving in those fields in which the basis for growth, jobs and wealth is being built,” he said.