According to the 2006 biennial OST (Observatoire des Sciences et Techniques) report, France accounts for 20% of European R&D spending, ranking 5th in the world.
In Europe, the top three countries with the highest R&D budgets are: Germany (over 25%), France (20%) and Great Britain (16%). Other European countries including Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Greece have smaller budgets but are still very active. The “Ile-de-France” region ranks first in scientific activity, ahead of other European regions like Stuttgart (Germany) and Eindhoven (Netherland), for example. Two other French regions (Rhône-Alpes et Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur) rank 7th and 28th, respectively.
Although France ranks 5th in the world on R&D spending amounts, it only ranks 12th when measuring R&D spending against GDP. France’s R&D / GDP ratio was 2.13% in 2003, while Japan was 3.15% and the US was 2.68%. R&D spending from the private sector have stabilized since 2000 at 63%, while the number of “in-house” researchers has augmented by 40% from 1998 to 2003, mainly thanks to subsidiaries of foreign companies implanted in France.
In 2004, France produced 4.7% of biology-related publications in the world, ranking 6th behind the US, Japan, Great Britain, Germany and China. 56% of these articles were co-produced with other EU-member countries. In 2004, France filed 5.6% of European patents, ranking 4th behind the US, Japan and Germany. 7% of those filings came from government agencies, a growing trend since 1999. With regard to the US patenting system, France only accounts for 2.5% of approved patents in 2004, ranking 6th behind, the US, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and South Korea. France remains strong in pharmaceutical biotechnology and chemical materials with 4.9% and 3.4%, respectively.
Tags: France, innovation, research