Denmark among top countries for R&D investment

• Research and Innovation Indicators 2014

Denmark is one of the top OECD countries for investment in research and development in 2012, according to a new report.

”The Research and Innovation Indicators 2014” report shows that public investment in R&D accounted for 1.6 per cent of GDP, ranking Denmark fourth out of all OECD countries for public R&D investment.

Private R&D investment accounted for 2.03 per cent of Danish GDP, which saw Denmark ranked seventh highest out of comparable investments in other OECD countries.

Minister for Higher Education and Science Sofie Carsten Nielsen is pleased with Denmark’s ranking among other OECD countries and that Danish researchers continue to be among the most productive and cited internationally, but there is room for improvement.

- Research is an important building block for future-proofing our society and Denmark is well positioned when compared internationally. This is good, but it is also important to the government that we continue to be even better at translating new knowledge to developing new solutions and products, while also maintaining a high level of research, says Sofie Carsten Nielsen.

The report also shows that Danish research continues to perform really well in recognized indicators for research quality. These include:

Danish researchers are among the most productive in the OECD in producing scientific publications. Danish researchers ranked third after Switzerland and Iceland for the number of publications in relation to the size of the population.

Danish research has a great impact and Danish publications are cited to a greater degree than those of many others. When comparing the number of citations per publication, Danish researchers ranked third, only surpassed by Iceland and Switzerland. Danish researchers ranked fourth when comparing the share of publications among the top 10 most cited publications.

International cooperation plays a key role in Danish research. More than every second Danish scientific publication is carried out in cooperation with international researchers. Only six other OECD countries have more international co-publication than Denmark.

The annual report was previously called the Research Barometer. A new element of the report in 2014 is the inclusion of indicators for innovation. For example, the report highlights how a little over half of Danish companies are innovative. Denmark ranked eleventh among OECD countries with the most innovative companies.