Austria misses EU research investment target

Austria failed to reach the European Union’s (EU) research investments benchmark of three per cent, it has been exposed.Federal statistics agency Statistik Austria said today (Thurs) it expected the government to spend 7.805 billion Euros on research and development this year. This figure would make only 2.76 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).The Lisbon Treaty however demands of EU member states to spend three per cent of their GDP by 2010.Statistik Austria however also pointed out that Austria’s investment on research almost doubled over the past ten years. The government had spent 4.028 billion Euros on the sector in 2000, it said.