Although the R&D investments of the Novo mesto-based pharma company were some 3% higher compared to 2009, Krka dropped by 15 spots on the Commission's list.

Coatings maker Helios is the only other Slovenian company to make it to the list, taking 786th place by investing EUR 8.29m in R&D in 2010, which is 13.4% more than in the previous year.

Conglomerates Sava and ACH, which were 936th and 972nd in last year's report, respectively, failed to make it to the list this year.

The European Commission's report shows that the biggest R&D investors in the EU spent a total of EUR 132bn for research and development in 2010, which is 6.1% more than in the year before. However, EU companies are still lagging behind other global giants in such investments.