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Research and Development is of key importance for the growth of any country. But as regards the investments in R&D the Old Continent only ranks third behind the US and Asia. According to the report "Global Innovation 1000-PWC" the 1000 quoted companies which spend the most money on R&D have invested this year an amount of $ 680 billion. Between 2007 and 2015 these expenditures were up 2% in Europe, while were up 40% in the US and 60% in Asia. The authors of this study suggest that the correct interpretation of these numbers is that these very large companies relocated or outsourced their R&D to Asia, mostly China and India, and also to the US. In this regard, the automotive and health sectors were particularly buoyant. It is worth noting that 2 Swiss pharmaceutical companies -Novartis and Roche- figure in the top ten. However, it is important to underline that Europe (EU-28) has committed itself to invest in R&D at least 3% of the EU's GDP by 2020. But it is also clear that Europe's weakness in domestic and imported R&D explains, at least in part, the low economic growth experienced by the majority of the countries members. Finally, concerning the related R&D spending it is hardly surprising that the Software and Internet industry had the highest growth rate of all the industries. That is why the 3 most innovative companies in the world are all originating or located in the US: Apple, Google and Tesla. Europe should take urgent action, which includes massive, rapid and targeted investments in order to avoid to become solely dependent on imported technologies.

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