Eurostat data show that in terms of investment in research and development, Latvia is at the "tail end" of the EU.

A cocktail of many factors

"The fact that Latvia is in the 'basement' of the EU regarding investment in research and development (R&D) is the result of an interaction between objective and subjective reasons," assesses Kristaps Klauss, Executive Director of the Latvian Forest Industry Federation.

He points out that large companies with a turnover of over 100 million euros cannot be sustainable without investing in R&D, which is why they invest in science and research and reflect this appropriately in their reports. However, there are only a few dozen such companies in Latvia. If we disregard "pure" trading companies, the numbers would decrease even further. "It is unlikely that companies in wood processing, food processing, metalworking, and other sectors with a net turnover of up to one million euros will engage in any serious cooperation with scientific institutions," responds K. Klauss to a question regarding the cooperation of small companies with scientists.