A more research-intensive and integrated European Research Area

Since the 1990s major new players have emerged in science and technology u0096 notably in Asia. The result is an increasingly multi-polar world where science, technology and patent applications are more widely distributed throughout the world. Figure 1 shows that almost 80 % of researchers work outside the EU, 75 % of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) is executed in other world regions, and 69 % of patent applications are made outside the EU. This is translated into a declining world share of GERD and patent applications, both for the US and for the European Union. >