R&D spending in Singapore hits S$7.13 billion

Singapore’s gross expenditure on R&D has reached a record high of S$7.13 billion in 2008.

This amount is 2.77% of Singapore’s GDP, according to figures from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and is a 12.4% increase from the gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) of S$6.33 billion in 2007.

The private sector increased its R&D spending by 20.9% year-on-year from S$4.23 billion in 2007 to S$5.12 billion in 2008. Much of private sector growth was driven by manufacturing R&D activity, particularly in the electronics sector. R&D spending by the electronics sector in 2008 was S$3.04 billion, an increase of 39.3% from S$2.18 billion in 2007.

In overall, GERD grew rapidly at a compound annual growth rate of 11.2% from 2000 to 2008.

R&D manpower in both the public and private sectors had also steadily increased by 2% from 27,301 in 2007 to 27,841 in 2008. The private sector was the major employer, employing 59.6% or 16,607 of all researchers in 2008. The public research institutes reported an increase of 13.5% in PhD numbers, from 1,286 PhDs in 2007 to 1,460 PhDs in 2008.

Sales revenues generated from commercialised products and processes attributed to R&D performed in Singapore have increased by 31.5% from S$16.4 billion in 2007 to S$21.5 billion in 2008. The public sector registered a 10.6% increase year-on-year in the number of primary patent applications, with 354 applications being filed in 2008 compared to 320 in 2007. The private sector made 1,227 primary patent applications in 2008 compared to 1,415 applications made in 2007.

For the survey done by the A*STAR, more than 1,000 organisations were surveyed, comprising of private sector companies, government organisations, local institutions of higher learning and public sector research institutes.