EU’s R&D spending dropped by €1bn in 2020

But pandemic’s knock to economy drives R&D spending to 2.3 per cent of GDP

The EU spent about €1 billion less on research in 2020 than in 2019, but inched closer to a longstanding target to increase spending as a proportion of GDP due to the economic damage from the pandemic.

The EU has a target to spend 3 per cent of its GDP on R&D overall, although few countries meet this goal.