EU Report Gives Luxembourg Second Place For Research

The former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Wim Kok, has presented an interim report to the European Union, pursuing the goal of making the EU the strongest economic power in the world, by 2010. The report found that Luxembourg fares well, already in an “above average” position. The research summarised a countries potential to grow based on the number of scientists per thousand. With a European average of 5.7 per thousand, Luxembourg was found to have the second largest proportion in Europe, with 8.78 researchers per thousand. Only Finland has a higher number of research scientists. Luxembourg was less successful in other categories.

The reason for Luxembourg’s impressive standing is because of the number of private research centres based within its borders. Luxembourg is the home of a number of significant research centres including, Goodyear, DuPont and Delphi.

Currently the Lisbon Strategy is a long way away from its goal of making Europe the strongest developed economy in the world.