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PREDICT

Since 2006, the JRC study "Prospective Insights in ICT R&D" (PREDICT) analyses the supply of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and the investments in Research and Development (R&D) in ICT in Europe, with comparison to major competitors worldwide.

This research entails:

  • analysing the development of the ICT industries over a long period of time in Europe, its 27 Member States and 13 non-EU major economies among which the US and BRIC countries;
  • studying the size, distribution and evolution of expenditure, personnel and researchers in ICT R&D, in the EU and in other major and emerging economies.

Background

ICT supply, ICT R&D, ICT specialists are key to growth and competitiveness. This is reflected in the political priorities of the European Union for more than two decades, and again in the most recent political agendas and flagships of the current European Commission.

ICTs determine competitive power in the knowledge economy and are the technologies underpinning the digital transformation of the economy and of society. Besides the impact that technological uptake has on the organisation of businesses, the ICT sector also plays an important enabling role for innovation in other technological domains.

“A Europe fit for the digital age” has been identified as one of the six European Commission priorities for the 2020-2024 period, and envisions Europe as a strong digital player in its own right.

Policy relevance

The PREDICT dataset and its accompanying reports provide a permanent monitoring tool of ICT sector. Since 2006, they serve to monitor and assess the impact of related policies: the 3% R&D (Lisbon Agenda and EU2020), the Digital Agenda for Europe (Chapter 5), the Member States digital progress in the European Semester through the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) and, until DESI 2021, its horizontal chapter ‘The EU ICT Sector and its R&D Performance’.

A joint effort

PREDICT is a collaboration between the European Commission Joint Research Centre and the Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) Directorate General.
Since 2013 data collection and analysis has been carried out jointly by JRC and the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas - Ivie).