The World Cup of R&D Spending

Last week, hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. ditched work and headed to their nearest stadium or drinking establishment to watch the U.S. – Belgium game. That is merely a microcosm of the amount of interest that the World Cup has received globally. However, since we had a little extra time on our hands after the loss to Belgium, we decided to reimagine the World Cup based upon national investment in biotech research and development. We looked at how each “sweet sixteen” country compares to each other in terms of biotech R&D spending. While the results may not fill your local tavern, they do make us feel like Howard isn’t the only one trying to save the world.

All data reflects 2014 estimates except for Costa Rica (2007), Greece (2011), Chile (2007), Uruguay (2007), and Algeria (2007).

Now only 2 teams remain on the field but countless more are doing wonders in the science world. Our hope is that the breakthroughs in the lab are exciting as the breakaways on the field!

Sources: Battelle, Wikipedia