EU struggling to stimulate industry R&D, Commission says

Several countries found to be making ‘limited progress’ on R&D focus of economic policies

Stimulating industry research and innovation is “a key challenge in Europe”, the European Commission has said in its annual summary of EU member states’ most pressing socio-economic problems.

In several member states, industry R&D is “increasingly concentrated in a limited number of firms” as innovation spending in small companies declines, the summary published on 26 February said. This is increasing the productivity gap between technology leaders and other companies, the Commission warned.