Cyprus R&D inches up but still low

Research and development (R&D) spending in Cyprus is inching up each year but is still tiny as a proportion of GDP according to the results of an ad hoc survey carried out by the Statistical Service.
Total R&D expenditure in 2010 is estimated at EUR 86.2 mln , or 0.50% of GDP , compared with EUR 83.0 mln or 0.49% of GDP in 2009 and EUR 73.4 mln or 0.43% in 2008.
This is much lower than the EU average of 2% but comparable with other new member states such as Romania (0.47%), Bulgaria (0.60%), Latvia (0.60%), Slovakia (0.63%) and Malta (0.63%).
The highest spending on R&D were recorded for Sweden (3.42%) and Finland (3.87%).
Educational institutions are the drivers of R&D, with higher education institutions accounting for EUR 42.9 mln or 49.8% of total R&D expenditure in 2012.
The government was next, with EUR 16.9 mln of expenditure or 19.6% of the total.
Business enterprises spent EUR 14.8 mln and accounted for 17.2% of the total while private non-profit institutions spent EUR 11.6 mln or 13.4%.
Among businesses, the manufacturing industry, particularly manufacturers of basic pharmaceutical products and preparations, was the principal source of R&D activity, with total expenditure of EUR 5.1 mln.
Computer programming, consultancy and related activities spent EUR 4.8 mln.
Most R&D spending went on natural sciences (EUR 33.4 mln).
Engineering and technology absorbed EUR 17.7 mln, the social sciences EUR 14.2 mln, the agricultural sciences EUR 10.2 mln, the humanities EUR 7.3 mln and the medical sciences EUR 3.3 mln.
The government is a major funder of R&D with 42.9% of activity or EUR 37.0 mln being financed from government funds in 2010.
However, this was lower than in 1999, when the amounted was EUR 37.8 mln or 45.6%.
Another EUR 21.9 mln was drawn from the budget of public universities and EUR 12.9 mln from sources from abroad (including EUR 11.7 mln from European Union funds).
The private sector spent EUR 14.4 mln constituted compared with EUR 15.7 mln in 2009.
The number of people engaged in R&D activities stood at 2,628 in 2010 compared with 2,591 in 2009.
In full-time equivalent terms, this number is estimated at 1,303 persons, of which 527 or 40.4% were women and 35.0% were holders of PhD level degrees.