Belgium's new R&D tax incentive welcomed

Belgium's pharmaceutical industry association, pharma.be, has expressed its approval of the first month of the government's new tax incentives for R&D. Although the country has more than the European Union average level of private sector investments, 1.46% of gross domestic product versus 1.11% for the EU as a whole, this remains short of the Lisbon Agenda target of 2% by 2010.

In a statement, the pharma.be said that the reduction of professional taxes on private sector researchers has led international branded pharmaceutical firms in Belgium to become a more attractive career choice for science graduates.

Finland and Sweden are the only two of the EU's 27 member states to have achieved the target R&D investment for the private sector of 2% of GDP by 2005, although Denmark and Germany are also among the top scorers.