Abstract Research and Development investments are critical to fostering innovation, driving economic growth, and achieving sustainable development goals. Horizon 2020 is the largest European Union research and innovation program, which has funded numerous R&D projects across different countries. This paper presents a comparative study of R&D investments in Romania and the EU, based on insights from Horizon 2020 projects. Using a composite indicator approach, we assess Romania’s performance in the R&D sector and compare it with other EU countries. The paper provides an overview of the number of projects and entities that participated in Horizon 2020, with a focus on the Romanian business sector. Our findings indicate that the success rate of Romanian projects is slightly higher than the EU average, and there is a significantly higher percentage of Romanian business sector entities that have participated in Horizon 2020 than in the EU. Moreover, some limitations of the Romanian R&D sector are highlighted, such as the low level of R&D expenditure, one of the lowest in the EU, and the low involvement of the business sector in funding R&D, despite being the primary sector under Horizon 2020. The comparative analysis sheds light on the opportunities and challenges for Romania in improving the performance of its R&D sector. By providing a comparative analysis of the performance of Romania and other EU countries in Horizon 2020 projects we can gain insights which can be useful for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in developing and implementing policies and strategies to improve R&D investments.

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