Numbers
Happier scientists in industry
European companies have spent less on research, while Horizon 2020 can’t spend its budget. Some numbers from the world of science.
Illustration: Bodara
42 %
of researchers in academia have a positive view of their career, compared to 64 percent of researchers in industry, according to a survey of 3,200 people by the journal Nature. These results show an overall shift in satisfaction from academia towards industry.
486 million
euros is the sum the EU failed to spend in its Horizon 2020 research programme in the year 2020. The EU Commission, the members of the European Parliament and member states are now arguing about what to do with the money.
2.2 %
was the drop in R&D spending registered by EU companies in 2020. This was the first time in ten years that spending on research and development had fallen, and it is being attributed to the pandemic and the resulting cutbacks. However, companies in the USA and China actually increased investment by 9.1 and 18.1 percent respectively during the same period.
300
is the number of so-called ‘points of failure’ that the James Webb Space Telescope had to endure during its 29-day journey into orbit – in other words, moments during which something could have gone wrong. It cost USD 10 billion and is the most complex space observatory in history.
