Just 3 Greek firms in EU's top 1000 R&D spenders

The government may be rejoicing in the increase in spending on research and development, but the message from abroad points to the sluggish performance of Greek businesses in the R&D sector.

In fact, just three local corporations have made it onto this year's list of 1,000 companies in the European Union with the highest R&D expenditure. These are the pharmaceutical company Pharmathen, with annual R&D spending of 49.9 million euros in the 2017-18 period, National Bank of Greece with expenditures of 41 million and gaming machinery company Intralot, with 14.4 million euros.

Based on the amounts invested, Pharmathen ranks 396th on the 2018 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard (EU 1000), followed by NBG in the 443rd position and Intralot in 778th place. On a global level, Pharmathen came in 1,564th on the 2018 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard ...