Slight increase in ICT sector employment

On R&D progress, the ICT business enterprise R&D expenditure (BERD) intensity -- measured as the ratio of R&D expenditure compared to its value added -- grew, consolidating the sector as one of the most research-intensive sectors in the EU economy, with an intensity four times greater than the average. This progress also coincides with an increase in public funding in this area. However, despite growing, ICT R&D public funding falls short 700 million euros of the target in 2011 with regards to Digital Agenda targets which aim at doubling ICT R&D public expenditure by the year 2020 from 2007.

The ICT sector continues to be highly concentrated in the five largest EU countries: Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain. However, the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, and Denmark) showed their superiority in terms of public funding for research and development in this area when compared with GDP. Globally, Europe still lags behind although it is decreasing the gap. The US led the ranking of ICT sector in terms of size, whereas Asian countries (Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan) led private R&D expenditures. This research, carried out in collaboration with the Commission's Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, combines national statistics, company data, and technology-based indicators.

Related links: PREDICT project: http://europa.eu/!Rp39hp