Key insights from the publication
1. Europe’s research strength does not translate into technology leadership. The EU has more researchers and scientific publications than the US. Yet its high-value patent output has fallen by almost one third since 2000, and China has overtaken Europe in greentech patents.
2. Europe is falling behind on R&D, especially in digital technologies. EU R&D spending is at 2.1% of GDP, below its own 3% target and the US level of 3.4%. EU companies cut ICT software R&D by 8.9% in 2024, while globally, software’s share of total R&D spending rose from 13% to 24.9%.
3. Scale-ups lack growth capital at the stage where they need it most. The venture capital gap to the US widens at later stages. European scale-ups increasingly depend on foreign investors, and fragmented capital markets limit cross-border funding.
Source: www.rolandberger.com
