The indicator measures gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) — also called R&D intensity. The OECD’s Frascati Manual on collecting R&D data defines research and experimental development as creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge — including knowledge of humankind, culture and society — and to devise new applications of available knowledge. 

This indicator measures the share of R&D personnel in the following institutional sectors: business enterprise, government, higher education and private non-profit. Data are presented in full-time equivalents as a share of the labour force. R&D personnel consist of two categories, researchers and other R&D personnel. Researchers are professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge. They conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories, models, techniques, instrumentation, software or operational methods. In addition, R&D personnel also include persons providing direct support services to R&D activities (e.g., R&D managers/administrators when directly serving R&D, technicians, and clerical staff assigned to R&D). Personnel providing only indirect or ancillary services are excluded.

This indicator measures requests for the protection of an invention filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) regardless of whether they are granted or not. Applications are allocated according to the country of residence of the first applicant listed on the application form (first-named applicant principle) as well as according to the country of residence of the inventor.

This indicator measures the share of buses, including coaches and trolley-buses, and trains in inland passenger transport, expressed in passenger-kilometres (pkm). Passenger transport here includes transport by passenger cars, buses and coaches, and trains, but excludes inland waterways, air and sea transport. All data are based on movements within national territories, in most cases regardless of the vehicle’s nationality. Road data stem from a voluntary collection and are not fully harmonised at the EU level. Tram and metro systems are not included because the data collection methodology for these means of transport is not sufficiently harmonised between Member States.

This indicator measures the share of rail and inland waterways in inland freight transport, expressed in tonne-kilometres (tkm). Inland freight transport includes road, rail and inland waterways. All data are based on movements on national territory. Rail and inland waterway transport is collected based on movements on national territory, regardless of the nationality of the train or vessel. Road transport activity is collected according to the country of registration of the vehicle, regardless of the territory where the activity is performed. The activity is redistributed to the territory where the activity is actually performed by modelling the likely journey itinerary on the European road network. Neither sea nor air freight transport are currently included.  

This indicator measures the emissions intensity of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) from the manufacturing sector (NACE Rev. 2 sector ‘C’). Air emissions are defined as flows of gaseous and particulate materials emitted into the atmosphere. Fine and coarse particulates (PM10) are less than 10 micrometres in diameter and can be carried deep into the lungs, where they can cause inflammation and exacerbate the condition of people suffering from heart and lung diseases. Fine particulates (PM2.5) are less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter and are therefore a subset of the PM10 particles. Their negative health impacts are more serious than PM10 because they can be drawn further into the lungs and may be more toxic. Emission intensity is calculated by dividing the sector’s PM emissions by its gross value added (GVA), which is defined as output (at basic prices) minus intermediate consumption (at purchaser prices).

The environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) is defined as that part of a country’s economy that is engaged in producing goods and services that are used in environmental protection and resource management activities either domestically or abroad. Gross value added in EGSS represents the contribution of the environmental goods and services sector to GDP and is defined as the difference between the value of the sector’s output and intermediate consumption.

The indicator measures the share of households with fixed very high capacity network (VHCN) connection. Very high capacity network means either an electronic communications network that consists entirely of optical fibre elements at least up to the distribution point at the serving location, or an electronic communications network capable of delivering, under usual peak-time conditions, similar network performance in terms of available downlink and uplink bandwidth, resilience, error-related parameters, and latency and its variation.