The 2025 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard unveils a noteworthy trend: a noticeable deceleration in the growth of research and development (R&D) investments among companies within the European Union. However, amidst this overarching slowdown, sectors such as health and energy are shining brightly, significantly boosting their R&D expenditures beyond the levels seen in their global counterparts.
Since its inception in 2004, the Scoreboard has been produced by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in collaboration with the Directorate General for Research and Innovation. This comprehensive report provides critical economic insights derived from the most recent financial statements of the world's top 2000 R&D investors, while also including an expanded sample featuring the top 800 R&D investing firms based in the EU. Notably, the companies represented in this Scoreboard contribute to nearly 90% of total global private R&D funding, underscoring its importance as a benchmarking tool.
EU: Health and Energy Sectors Outperform in a Year of Overall Slowdown
In 2024, companies headquartered in the EU reported a staggering total R&D investment of €233.8 billion. This reflects a growth rate of 2.9%, a significant decline from the previous year's robust growth rate of 9.3%.
Despite this overall downturn, certain sectors demonstrated remarkable resilience. For instance, EU firms operating in the health sector ramped up their R&D investments by an impressive 13%, surpassing growth rates in other regions, including the United States at 7.1%, Japan at 9.1%, and China at a mere 0.1%. Furthermore, the EU's energy sector, particularly those focused on electricity and renewable resources, saw a dramatic increase in R&D spending by 19.8%, far exceeding the growth rates recorded by global competitors—6% in the U.S., a downturn of 14.2% in Japan, and 3.8% in China.
However, the performance of various sectors was not uniform. The EU's information and communications technology (ICT) sector experienced a decline in investments by 8.9%. Meanwhile, the automotive sector, which represents the EU's largest R&D investor with €87 billion, exhibited stagnation with a growth rate of just 0.8%. This was notably lower than the growth rates seen in China at 11.9% and Japan at 12.3%.
ICT, Health, and Automotive Industries Drive Global R&D Growth
On a global scale, R&D investments continue to rise. In 2024, the leading 2,000 companies worldwide invested a staggering €1,442.6 billion in R&D, achieving a growth rate of 6.3%, slightly up from 6.0% in the prior year. The highest growth rates were reported in the United States and the rest of the world (ROW), at 7.8% and 8.1% respectively, followed closely by Japan at a growth rate of 7.1%. Comparatively, the EU's growth rate of 2.9% was quite modest, paralleling China's 3.9%.
When examining specific sectors, it is clear that R&D investments are heavily concentrated in four primary areas: software and hardware related to ICT, health industries, and the automotive sector. Collectively, these four sectors account for over 80% of the overall R&D investments reported in the Scoreboard. Notably, firms from the U.S. continue to dominate in the ICT and health sectors, whereas EU companies maintain a competitive edge in automotive R&D.
Concentration of Innovation and Profits Raises Questions
A striking trend in global R&D investment is its increasing concentration, largely driven by the top five investing companies: Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple. Over the past decade, these technology giants have doubled their share of global R&D investment, now representing approximately 15% of the total. This growing concentration of innovation and business capacity within a select few firms raises pressing questions about market dynamics and the dissemination of innovation across the broader global economy.
Scoreboard Dataset: A Valuable Public Resource
The Scoreboard serves as a valuable, up-to-date resource for benchmarking, allowing for comparisons both between individual companies and across different sectors and geographic areas. It monitors and analyzes emerging trends in R&D investment, drawing on data sourced directly from each company's annual reports.
This annual publication has become a crucial reference point for stakeholders in science, industry, and policy-making. Its findings have informed numerous publications by both European and international institutions, including notable reports such as the Draghi and Heitor Reports and the yearly European Investment Bank Investment Reports.
Emphasizing the importance of openness in data practices, the Scoreboard ensures that its database is publicly accessible. This allows stakeholders to engage in their own benchmarking and monitoring processes, consistent with the European Commission's commitment to open science practices.
Explore More
For those interested in delving deeper into the findings, datasets, and interactive visual dashboards, more information can be found on the JRC’s web page dedicated to the economics of industrial research and innovation.
