In 2002, the European Union (EU) set a goal, referred to as the Lisbon strategy, that member states should be spending 3 percent of their gross domestic product on research and development by the year 2010. At present only a few countries are at that level, such as Sweden (3.9 percent) and Finland (3.5 percent). Powerhouses such as Germany (2.5 percent), France (2.1 percent), and the UK (1.7 percent) strongly support R&D, like the US (2.6 percent); Spain (1.1 percent) and Italy (1.1 percent) have some catching up to do.

Link (Science Careers, 07/2008)