Strong European Community Meets Biggest Single Market: R&D Investment in USA

摘要

The U.S. is an attractive market for both the chemical industry and biotechnology. The chemical industry in the U.S. is booming: its sales have grown by 62percent in the past 15 years, which is similar to the development of the EU-15 countries. The life sciences industry has permanently moved away from Europe and towards the U.S. in the past few years. The U.S. are the biggest manufacturer of medical and biotech products already today. According to a study conducted by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young in 2004, they are even leading innovators in the development of new medication, although Europe still leads in pharmaceutical manufacturing. R&D investment is twice as high as in Europe. When European companies were asked for their main criteria regarding location decision when going abroad, "labour quality" and "research climate" were ranked top.