Brussels - A new Reference Report published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) shows that €3.3 billion in Research and Development (R&D) on low-carbon technologies were invested in the EU in 2007. Of this, 56 percent came from industry, a figure that rises to 69 percent when taking into account only non-nuclear low-carbon energy technologies. Both corporate and public R&D investments are largely concentrated in a few Member States.

The study has been carried out by the JRC's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). It constitutes a benchmark of current expenditures on industrial and public R&D in low-carbon energy technologies that have been identified as a priority for the EU in the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan. These technologies are: wind energy, photovoltaics, concentrated solar power (CSP), bioenergy, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), smart grids, nuclear fission, hydrogen and fuel cells and nuclear fusion.

The JRC research found that in 2007 public and private European investors together dedicated €3.3 billion to Research and Development (R&D) on EU priority low-carbon energy technologies. €2.38 billion were invested in R&D on non-nuclear energy, of which €1.66 billion came from the private sector. Expenditure on nuclear energy technologies reached €940 million and was almost equally split between fission and fusion research.

For many technologies, countries with high public R&D funds also account for the largest corporate R&D investments. The report estimates indicate that 99 percent of the aggregated national R&D budgets on SET-Plan priority technologies originate from only eleven countries: France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Austria, with the first three accounting for two thirds of the public investment.

When it comes to private investment, companies located in Germany, France, the UK, Denmark, Spain and Sweden were found to account for more than 90 percent of the total corporate R&D expenditure in SET Plan priority technologies.

The analysis of public R&D investments of Member States is based on statistics by Eurostat, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and national information directly provided by a number of Member States.

The JRC report "R&D Investment in the Priority Technologies of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan" can be downloaded from ec.europa.eu.

Quelle: Joint Research Centre (JRC)

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