Compared to 2017, an extra 2.4 billion euros have been invested in research and development in Baden-Württemberg – this corresponds to an increase in R&D spending of a good 8 percent to around 30.3 billion euros. In the period under review, the research workforce was also further expanded, with an increase of around 6 percent compared with 2017.
The increase in R&D spending also led to a rise in R&D intensity, i.e. the ratio of R&D spending in relation to the gross domestic product. Compared with 2017, it rose by around 0.2 percentage points to 5.8 percent. This means that in 2019, the German Southwest once again had by far the highest research intensity (2.4 percentage points) of all German states and thus remains the No. 1 innovation region in Germany and Europe. Bavaria (3.4 percent), Berlin (3.3 percent) and Lower Saxony (3.1 percent) followed in the ranking of German states on research intensity.
Internationally, as well, Baden-Württemberg occupies a top position with this high research intensity. The R&D intensity in the USA (3.1 percent), China (2.2 percent) and Japan (3.2 percent) was far below that of the German Southwest in 2019, even though the three global R&D leaders spent more financial resources on research and development in absolute terms.
Source: State Statistical Office
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