EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboards 2011

Table 16 compares the number of fast-growing EU firms from the “comparable”sample (394 companies investing annually more than 29 million euros) with thenumber appearing in the rest of the EU sample (606 companies). In total, theabsolute number of fast-growing companies is higher in the 606 sample of, ingeneral, smaller (also in sales and employees) companies. But proportionally, thedifference is small (6.6% of companies in the EU-606 sample versus 6% in the EU-606 sample, on the basis of the sales growth criteria).More interestingly, the proportion of fast-growing firms among the larger companiesis higher for the more high-intensive sectors such as pharmaceuticals andbiotechnology and software and computer services. For a wide range of less R&Dintensive sectors, fast-growing companies appear only among the smaller sample ofcompanies. There are no fast-growing companies (nor in terms of sales oremployment) in the Banks, Chemicals, Commercial vehicles and trucks, Electricityand Media sectors.The Alternative energy and the Biotechnology sectors show a particularly highnumber of fast-growing companies in terms of employment among the EU-606sample. This should be considered an encouraging signal, given the importance ofthe two sectors.Table 16. Number of fast growing companies by sector according to net sales,employment and R&D investment criteria for two EU samples (EU-394 andEU606).SectorFast growingCompanies[acc. to sales]*Fast growing[employmentgrowth]*Fast growing[acc. to R&Dinvestment]*EU_394 EU_606 EU_394 EU_606 EU_394 EU_606Aerospace & defence 3 2 1Alternative energy 2 5 1 3Automobiles & parts 1 1Banks 3Biotechnology 4 3 3 6 1 5Chemicals 1 1Commercial vehicles & trucks 1Computer hardware 1Computer services 2 2 1 2 3Construction & materials 1 1 1 1Electrical components & equipment 1 1 1Electricity 2Electronic equipment 1 2 1 1 1 5Gas, water & multi-utilities 1General industrials 1Healthcare equipment & services 1 3 1 1 1Household goods & home 1 2Industrial machinery 1 1 3 4Industrial metals & mining 1 1Life insurance 1Media 2Mining 1 1Nonlife insurance 1 1 1Oil & gas producers 152The 2011 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard