The Central European Research and Development Platform for Investors

Since the late 1990s, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have emerged as a relatively important European research and development platform for foreign investors. Investors started targeting Hungary first, followed by Poland and the Czech Republic soon after. Firms operating in the automotive and electronics industries, in their majority originating from Europe, have the highest tendency to locate research and development in these three countries. With accession to the European Union, specialization of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland on research and development is expected to be strengthened. The expansion of laboratories, however, may face demographical limits. Compared to China and India, the population of these countries is small and is no longer growing. That may determine the size of projects they can attract in the future