Last year, Belgian companies decreased their investment in Research and Development (R&D) by 0.8% compared to 2007. Of the ten EU Member States where companies invest most in R&D, Belgium is the only Member State where the growth in private R&D investment decreased, the European Commission reports in the 2009 edition of its annual EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard.

While worldwide the growth in R&D investment increased by 6.9 percent, the corporate R&D growth rate in the EU (8.1%) has been higher than that in the US (5.7%). It also outpaced Japanese companies (4.4%) for the fourth straight year. Japanese car manufacturer Toyota was the biggest overall investor in R&D worldwide in 2008.

Of the ten EU Member States where companies invest most in R&D, Italian companies showed the highest growth (20.4%). Companies in Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany also scored better than the EU average. The lowest growth rates in the EU were the R&D investments by businesses based in Finland (1.6%) which overall scores very high in R&D investment, and France (0.7%). Belgium is the only Member State with a negative score of -0.8%, which indicates that R&D investment by private investors in Belgium decreased.

The Scoreboard measured the R&D performance of 39 Belgian companies, which accounts for 2% of corporate R&D investment in the EU, leading Belgium into 9th place. Germany is ranked first on the ranking, with 209 German companies accounting for 34.6 percent of total commercial R&D investment in the EU. German car manufacturer Volkswagen ranks third worldwide in terms of R&D investment.

In the top-100 of EU companies investing most in R&D, Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB can be found on 34th position. It spent € 767 million, 1.8 percent lower than last year. In addition, UCB is laying off 218 jobs, or 10% of total employment. A large share of these jobs is in the company’s R&D department, a department pharmaceutical companies are usually very proud of. Moreover, the government has taken measures to stimulate R&D investment. In the top-200 of the ranking, Umicore can be found on position 102. Other companies are KBC (159th), Dexia (177th) and Barco (195th).

AmCham Belgium’s position
AmCham Belgium urges the Government to increase its spending on R&D by at least 25% in order to meet the EU average, as successful innovation leads to economic growth and job creation. To do so, the Government will need to reinforce its support measures for R&D.
In addition to stronger investment in R&D by the Government, removing opportunistic taxation ‘claw-backs’ and obstacles to successful innovative industries in order to address both the current low R&D expenditures would enhance Belgium’s business climate.

Click here for more information about AmCham Belgium's Priorities for a Prosperous Belgium.