Europe is getting serious about research and development spending in a bid to close the gap with its global economic rivals. The latest move is an aggressive R&D proposal put forward by the European Commission. Coupled with other technology projects emerging in recent months—and new industry-government initiatives aimed at making such efforts more efficient—Europe could be on the verge of providing itself with a much stronger technology base. The new EC plan, unveiled on Apr. 7, proposes to double European Union spending on R&D to 67.8 billion euros ($87 billion), with aerospace slated to be a major recipient. The increase is slightly less than expected by some, but substantial nonetheless. As part of the proposal, Brussels would implement institutional changes to foster expanded research activity among its members, which on aggregate spend less than 2% of their gross domestic product on future technologies, against 2.6% in the U.S. and 3.1% in Japan.
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