German companies shell out over 72 bln euros in R&D in 2018

Source: Xinhua | 2019-11-29

German companies invested more than 72 billion euros (79.2 billion U.S. dollars) in research and development (R&D) in 2018, a German association announced Thursday.

The amount marked an increase of around 3 billion euros, or 5 percent, over the previous year, according to Stifterverband, which compiled the data on behalf of the German Ministry of Education and Research.

The value of German research contracts awarded to companies, universities or research institutions remained unchanged at 19.5 billion euros compared to the previous year, according to the German association.

German universities and the German government also "significantly increased" their R&D expenditures, which amounted to approximately 32.6 billion euros, according to preliminary calculations by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

In 2018, Germany invested an estimated 3.13 percent of its total economic output in R&D, according to the Stifterverband.

"The increased efforts and investments in R&D show that the German economy is still on the right track. Industry and government are fully aware of the challenges and are taking up the competition," commented Anja Karliczek, German Minister of Education and Research.

A look at the different economic sectors showed that German automobile manufacturers "dominate" R&D expenditures with a total of 27.1 billion euros.

"Germany is a highly innovative business location. For this to remain so, companies must produce new digital technologies and services. The automotive industry will continue to play a key role in this," said Andreas Barner, President of Stifterverband.

Stifterverband is a joint initiative started by companies and foundations. It devoted entirely to consulting, networking and promoting improvements in the fields of education, science and innovation, according to its website.