Press Release: European companies outpace American counterparts in R&D investment growth for the first time in five years

R&D investment by EU companies has increased by 8.8% compared to the increased R&D investment by US companies of 8.6%, according to the 2008 edition of the European Commission's annual Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard published today. Three EU companies feature in the top ten: Nokia in 5th place (up from 17th), with an R&D investment of €5.3 billion, Volkswagen in 9th (up from 14th) and Daimler in 10th (down from 5th). The world's biggest investor in R&D in 2008 is Microsoft, with €5.6 billion. Trends show increased sales and profitability for EU companies and for the first time since records began in 2004, R&D investment growth in the EU companies is greater than that of their US counterparts.