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The global investment in R&D grows 3.6% in 2018

The “Global R&D Funding Forecast” is an annual report that contains exclusive results of research and analysis next year and in the years to come. It has information on the state of R&D in 100 countries, along with summaries of the main industry sectors, academic research, global technology regions and detailed spending plans by government agencies and North American industry.

We summarize here some of the most significant data:

  • The global investment in R&D already amounts to 2’3 trillion dollars, with a growth of 3.6% in 2018
  • China continues its unstoppable upward trajectory. It invests 500,000 million, and already executes 22% of the world’s R & D. In the last year, it has increased its investment by 22,000 million
  • In Asia, 44.2% of global R&D is already executed. In North America, 27%. In Europe, only 20%
  • In the R & D / GDP category, the world champions are South Korea (4’3%), Israel (4’05%), Japan (3’5%), and Finland (3’5%).

The center of the world moves to Asia, today the authentic driver of global R & D. China is going to become a scientific, technological and industrial empire. The report predicts that in 2024 China will be the leading country in global R&D. With a very aggressive technology policy, China already has more research personnel than the US (1.6 million versus 1.4 million), and generates four times more patents per year (1.2 million versus 400,000). Chinese publications represent 23% of international scientific publications.

We reccomend you visit Global R&D Funding Forecast online magazine for the full report.