Malta is the fourth-lowest investor in Research and Development (R&D) in the European Union, figures published by Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency, show. Moreover, the spending in 2016 decreased in relation to the amount invested on R&D in 2015.
The data shows that in 2016 Malta spent 0.61% of its GDP on R&D, down by o.16% from last year where, also at fourth position, the investment stood at 0.77%. Looking at the percentages from a wider perspective, Malta almost doubled the money spent on R&D since 2006. In 2006, the total spend on R&D was €31 million (which was 0.58% of GDP) whilst in 2016 it was €61 million. However, Malta still remains one of the EU countries spending least on research and development.
The majority of R&D spending in Malta is from Business enterprises, at 63%, which has gone down by 3% since 2006. The Government spending has also declined by 3%, from 4% in 2006 to 1% in 2016. In fact, along with the decrease, Malta's Government spending on R&D in 2016 holds the lowest percentage from all the countries listed.
The biggest increase was in the higher education sector, providing 35% of the R&D funds, a 6% increase from 2006, where it stood at 29%.
Latvia, Romania and Cyprus are the countries who spend less than Malta on R&D. Sweden, Austria and Germany, meanwhile, are the biggest spenders on R&D, with 3.25%, 3.09% and 2.94% respectively.
The R&D expenditure target for the Europe 2020 strategy is 3%, with the current average of EU member states at 2.03%. This number has increased from a decade ago when the intensity stood at 1.76%.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2AP7Ya4
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment