Quaterly bulletin on research funding in the field of water protection

World industrial investments in R&S; have increased by 6,9% during 2008 despite the economic crisis; with a 8,1% increase the R&S; investment growth of EU firms is higher than the USA, for the second consecutive year. The situation In Italy is different: statistics shows that there is a lack of both public and private R&S; investments. Regarding public research Italy invests only 0,56% of GDP, while the European average is 0.65% The R&S; private investments point out a considerable gap from the European average: 0,55% respect to 1,17 % of the GDP. There are 3,6 researchers for 1000 employed people, in comparison to the OCSE average of 7,6.