Eurostat: Romania spent only 653 million euro for research and development in 2007

Research and development spending in Romania totaled 653 million euro in 2007 and as a percent of GDP it is the lowest in the EU, but higher than Cyprus, Slovakia and Bulgaria, an Eurostat report reveals on Tuesday. Romania is among the last places in the top in what concerns the research and development personnel or the percent of companies involved in innovation activities.

In 2007, at the EU level, some 229 billion euro were spent for research and development, which represented 1.85% of the EU GDP, the same level as 2006. In Romania research and development spending totaled 653 million euro which represents 0.53% of GDP, a slight increase from 0.45% in 2006.