Research and experimental development services market in Europe: size, suppliers and public contracts
Market size and key facts
In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 32 supply contracts for research and experimental development services through award notices on TED; the 26 of them that state a value (81.3%) add up to €9.01 million.
- Since November 2023, 94 companies have won 159 public supply contracts for research and experimental development services in 30 European countries, in 83 award notices from 37 public buyers.
- 24.5% of these awards went to a company registered in a different country from the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is United Kingdom.
- The five companies that win most often hold 27% of all awards across Europe.
- 20.7% of the awards whose notice states the number of tenders received a single bid.
In proportion
All public purchasing in the EU-27 — general government spending on goods, services and investment, the measure the OECD and the European Commission use for public procurement — came to €2.93 trillion in 2025, 15.5% of GDP (Eurostat). Award notices on TED cover only the contracts above the EU thresholds, so they show who wins, not the whole of that spending.
Source: Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) and GDP (nama_10_gdp), retrieved 9 November 2026.
Updated · counted daily from contract award notices on TED and Eurostat international trade data · figures as JSON · free to quote with attribution (CC BY 4.0)
How to cite: Cresques, "Research and experimental development services market in Europe", https://cresques.com/markets/europe/731-research-and-experimental-development-services, from TED contract award notices (© European Union) and Eurostat Comext, updated 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
CPV group 731 across the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein: how much public buyers award, who wins, where from, and how the market splits by country.
The market in numbers
Public supply contracts in Europe: award notices published on TED from 2023-11 to 2026-11, by publication year.
- Contracts awarded
- 159
- in 83 award notices
- Awarded value
- €103.3M
- from 81% of awards with a published value
- Winning companies
- 94
- with at least one award
- Public buyers
- 37
- hospitals, cities, agencies
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | 2 |
| 2024 | 37 |
| 2025 | 32 |
| 2026 | 88 |
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | €0 |
| 2024 | €90.6M |
| 2025 | €9M |
| 2026 | €3.7M |
Table view
| Cities, regions and central administration | 75 |
| Universities, schools and research | 61 |
| Hospitals and health services | 10 |
| Environment and waste | 6 |
| Economic affairs | 5 |
| Culture, sport and religion | 1 |
| Water utilities | 1 |
- Czechia7630 companies
- Ireland4125 companies
- Sweden1714 companies
- Spain55 companies
- Netherlands33 companies
- Greece33 companies
- Denmark33 companies
- Poland22 companies
- Norway22 companies
- Germany22 companies
Table view
| Czechia | 76 |
| Ireland | 41 |
| Sweden | 17 |
| Spain | 5 |
| Netherlands | 3 |
| Greece | 3 |
| Denmark | 3 |
| Poland | 2 |
| Norway | 2 |
| Germany | 2 |
- Large companies
- Medium-sized
- Small
- SME (size not stated)
- Size not stated
Table view
| Large companies | 14 · 8.8% |
| Medium-sized | 4 · 2.5% |
| Small | 9 · 5.7% |
| SME (size not stated) | 80 · 50.3% |
| Size not stated | 52 · 32.7% |
- United Kingdom22
- Netherlands6
- Sweden3
- Germany2
- France2
- United States2
Table view
| United Kingdom | 22 |
| Netherlands | 6 |
| Sweden | 3 |
| Germany | 2 |
| France | 2 |
| United States | 2 |
Awards to companies registered in the buyer's own country
75.5%
39 awards went to companies registered elsewhere.
Share of the 5 biggest winners
27%
Of all awards; a high share means a concentrated market.
Lots with a single bid
20.7%
Among 140 awards whose notice states the number of tenders.
How we count: one award per procedure, lot and winning company, from live contract award notices; a joint procurement counts on every buyer's market. Values are the awarded amounts published in the notice (framework ceilings and estimates are never added), converted to euro at the ECB yearly average. Company size is the SME flag of the notice (eForms BT-165). Read the methodology.
Country pages
Countries with fewer than 25 winning companies in this group have no separate page; their awards are counted above.
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Questions
- How big is the research and experimental development services market in Europe?
- In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 32 supply contracts for research and experimental development services through award notices on TED; the 26 of them that state a value (81.3%) add up to €9.01 million.
- How many public contracts for research and experimental development services are awarded in Europe?
- Since November 2023 public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 159 supply contracts for research and experimental development services in 83 TED award notices; the 128 awards with a published value add up to €103.3M.
- Which countries buy the most research and experimental development services through public tenders?
- Czechia (76 awards), Ireland (41 awards), Sweden (17 awards) lead; 94 companies won at least one award across Europe.
- How often do foreign suppliers win research and experimental development services contracts?
- 24.5% of the awards went to a company registered in another country than the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is United Kingdom.
Source: contract award notices on TED — Tenders Electronic Daily (ted.europa.eu), © European Union, published since November 2023; processed by Cresques. Numbers updated 2026-11-13.