To improve its competitiveness as a strong region within Europe, Flanders has affirmed its commitment to the European objective of spending 3% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on Research and Development (R&D) by 2020 (for more details see ‘Investigating in European Research. Towards 3% of GDP’). Progress in approaching this 3% objective is checked each year based on numbers obtained from the R&D Survey and the Innovation Survey (CIS).
The 3% note 2023, published on June 30, 2023, observes the R&D intensity for the period 2011-2021. The first part discusses the R&D expenditures, including the expenditures per sector. The R&D expenditures as a percentage of the GDP are calculated and the numbers for Flanders are benchmarked in an international comparison. The second part focuses on the R&D personnel. The third part presents the split in R&D expenditures between private (i.e. companies) and public (i.e. governments) players. Then, a breakdown of public versus private funding of R&D activities is presented. Both direct and indirect public support are discussed. Finally, we discuss trends in the numbers for R&D expenditures and R&D personnel in companies in Flanders.
Please note that the 3% note is only available in Dutch.
