Of Flanders’ total R&D expenditure, 72% comes from the private sector and 28% from the public sector Furthermore, the total number of full-time R&D employees in the region has increased by 3.5%, bringing the total to 61,358. 

“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, companies in Flanders have continued to invest in R&D,” says Flanders’ Minister of Economy & Innovation Jo Brouns. “The powerful impulses the government provides through Flanders’ Resilience plan have certainly supported and boosted companies’ confidence to up their innovative efforts.” 

What’s more, both in 2019 and 2020, Flanders’ R&D expenditure relative to GDP exceeded the 3% threshold put forward as a standard by Europe 2020, the EU’s strategy for growth and employment. 

Besides putting Flanders at the top of the European leaderboard, this result also makes the region part of a select group of innovation leaders within the EU: only three other EU member states – Sweden (3.53%), Austria (3.20%) and Germany (3.14%) also surpassed the target percentage in 2020.