Regional Inequalities

Abstract

This is a measure of a country's attitude towards innovation activities. According to Frascati Manual (2002), R&D is considered as a "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of his stock of knowledge to devise new applications." DescriptionAccording to OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) statistics, R&D investment as a percentage of GDP was on average 2.33 % in OECD countries. The intensity of expenditures in R&D varies significantly among OECD countries. Sweden is the country spending the most (3.75 %) followed by Finland (3.73 %), Japan (3.42 %), and Korea (3.37 %). Mexico, Slovak Republic Poland, and Turkey have the lowest R&D intensity (0.38, 0.47, 0.58, 0.61, and 0.73 %, respectively). Finland and Iceland are the countries that have increased the most their R&D intensity between 1995 and 2005 (OECD, 2007). ▶ Regional disparities within countries are even larger than among countries. The United States, Sweden, and Korea show that largest disparities in R&D investment as a percentage of GDP across regions. Ireland, together with Greece, the Slovak Republic, Belgium, and Portugal, displays minor differences in R&D investment as a percentage of GDP among regions. It appears that countries with high R&D intensity also exhibit higher internal dispersion (OECD, 2009).