Multiplied Number of Researchers in Europe

The number of researchers in Europe has multiplied in the last 40 years.  Sweden is the European country with the highest growth of researchers. 17 per thousands active inhabitants in Sweden are researchers. In 1980 only 5 per thousands active inhabitants were researches. 

Also countries like Austria, Portugal and Germany hava several times as many researchers today than in 1980. 

At the EURAXESS conference in June in Katowice, Poland, Manuel Heitor, Professor and former Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, gave an overview of the growing research acitivity in Europe in recent years. Manuel Heitor is also Chair of the expert group evaluating Horizon Europe and setting out priorities for EU´s next key funding programme for research and innovation, FP10. 

Particularly in the last 10 years there has been an immense growth of research in Europe. In 2011 there were 1.38 million researchers in the EU countries. In 2011 there were 2 million researchers - an increase of 626,800. Sweden and Poland doubled the numbers of researchers the last 10 years.

The number of researchers in EU corresponds to 1 percent of the total work force. Most researchers - 56 percent - are employed in the industry. 32 percent work at higher education institutes and 11 percent at public research institutes.  

EURAXESS services in new design 

The EU grants large amounts for research and innovation every year. Great importance is also attached to strengthening the EURAXESS services which make it easier for researchers to move between countries in Europe.  

A revamped EURAXESS portal was launched at the Katowice conference. The 43 national EURAXESS portals have also been updated with new design and contents - including the Faroese portal - euraxess.fo. 

At the same time a new one-stop-shop gateway for researchers and innovators in Europe and beyond - ERA Talent Platform - has been launched.