Eurostat: In 2004, 1.90 % of GDP (almost EUR 200 billion) was spent on R&D in the EU-25. The highest R&D intensities, above the 2010 target of 3 % set at the Lisbon Summit in 2000, were observed in Sweden (3.74 %), Finland (3.51 %) and Iceland (3.01 %) [Japan: 3.15%, US: 2.65%]. More than 60% of total R&D expenditure was spent in 3 EU countries: Germany (EUR 55 billion), France (EUR 36 billion) and the United Kingdom (EUR 30 billion).

The business sector was the major source of financing of R&D, providing 54% of funding, but this percentage ranks behind Japan (75%), the United States (63%) and China (60%). The government sector comes in second position and provided 35 % of the EU-25 R&D funds against 31 % in China and 30 % in the US, but only 18 % in Japan [rest: higher education sector, private non profit sector, funding from abroad].

Eight European regions recorded an R&D intensity of more than 3 % in 2002. Braunschweig in Germany (7.1 %) leads, ahead of Pohjois-Suomi in Finland (4.2 %), East of England in the UK (3.9 %), Stredni Cechy in the Czech Republic (3.5 %), Vienna in Austria and Île de France in France (3.4 % respectively). [Source]