R&I Forerunner

The European automotive supply industry is a global technology leader, largely due to its yearly investment of more than €30 billion in innovation. For years, European automotive suppliers have registered the most patents for innovations in emissions and safety by bringing to the market an increasing diversity of products, with ever shorter development and production cycles.

Automotive suppliers play a key role in innovating and adapting the automotive industry to meet new global societal challenges and regulatory requirements. It is increasingly important to develop new technologies and systems for higher performance in terms of safety, sustainability, connectivity and comfort.

These massive investments in R&I result in disruptive technology solutions.

These solutions make European suppliers highly competitive world leaders.

Suppliers on average account for 50% of the R&I spending in the European automotive industry – with a rising tendency

With future challenges such as global localisation, volume bundling and OEM module strategies, the balance of R&I expenditure will tip towards suppliers