Europe needs one million researchers to meet R&D target

Europe's target of spending 3 per cent of its GDP on R&D by 2020 can only be achieved if the number of researchers working in the continent is upped by one million, a report for the European Commission has said.

The 2013 Researchers’ Report, carried out by Deloitte, states that spending increases and increases in the number of active researchers need to go hand in hand. The one million figure represents a hike of more than 60 per cent on the number of scientists working in Europe at present. 

The report assesses equal opportunities, working conditions, recruitment and mobility for researchers in Europe. Despite having a large number of skilled researchers, Europe is still lagging behind its main competitors, such as the US and Japan, when it comes to the amount of researchers in the total labour force, the report says.