A GLIMPSE INTO THE R&D PERFORMANCE AT EUROPEAN UNION LEVEL

The persistent uncertainty after the global economic crisis together with EU diffuse perspective challenges the possibilities of boosting regional and global economic growth. The confidence in EU as an innovation-driven regional economy has to be renewed: the base points of economic life must be restored, fresh educational approaches are needed and the competences, that are a precondition for success, must be brought back or reconstruct. Thus, research and development (R&D) public and private policies must play a key role in efforts to create wellbeing and sustainable growth at EU member countries. A large number of studies have been conducted in order to evaluate (directly or/and indirectly) the performance of R&D on society but there is still a lack of broadly acceptable and rigorous applicable methodologies for R&D performance assessments. In this sense, on the grounds of some Eurostat and OECD indicators, the expected results of this article are intended to contribute to a better understanding of the R&D performance on overall EU economy and on some EU member countries.