Many German companies have pulled out the red pencil in the face of the recent economic slump.
The corporations also put the brakes on in research and development.
Munich - In the middle of the corona pandemic, the German economy is reducing its spending on research and development.
The share of R&D expenditure in sales fell to 3.2 percent in all sectors last year, announced the Munich Ifo Institute on Thursday.
Between 2016 and 2019, this parameter was still 3.5 percent on average.
In addition, sales have fallen in many industries.
As a result, the decline in the sums invested was even greater.
As a justification, Ifo researcher Klaus Wohlrabe referred to the tense economic situation at many companies, especially in the first half of 2020. There was great uncertainty about the possible extent of the crisis.
"To put it casually, there was sometimes less money left to invest in research," Wohlrabe told
Merkur.de
.
Many companies have therefore initially put large investment projects and research expenditures on hold.
Ifo Institute: Auto-Industrie takes a particularly hard step on the brakes
The biggest decline occurred in the traditionally research-intensive automotive industry, of all places, which is about to undergo a multi-billion dollar conversion towards e-mobility.
Here the share fell from 6.9 to 4.8 percent.
Even the pharmaceutical industry, which is currently in the spotlight because of the pandemic, cut research spending, from 7.2 to 7.0 percent of sales.
Mechanical engineering and the electrical industry, which are important for Germany, were able to keep their share almost stable with a minimal decrease of 0.1 points each.
The decline was also reflected in the workforce.
The share of employees in research and development fell from 4.9 to 4.2 percent.
Overall, the companies continued to rely on research and development despite the decline, said Wohlrabe.
You couldn't neglect this.
For the future, he expects at least a stabilization of investments.
(dpa / utz)
