The impact of the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard on science and policy

Abstract The EU Industrial research and development (R&D) Investment Scoreboard (Scoreboard) provides data and economic analysis to monitor corporate R&D and inform EU policy since 2004. This study investigates the influence of this annual report on both science and policy. Our findings reveal that while the Scoreboard has been more frequently cited in policy documents than in peer-reviewed papers, academic interest is growing. In policy, it has influenced the EU policy narrative regarding the EU corporate R&D intensity gap relative to its competitors. In science, citations are more often linked to specific analytical insights of the reports than to the underlying data. However, studies combining Scoreboard and patent data receive relatively more citations, highlighting the value of integrating diverse data to better understand innovation dynamics. Interestingly, policy documents citing the Scoreboard exhibit a shorter citation time window than academic papers, reflecting its immediate relevance to policy debates.