Total Amount of Expenditure on Research and Development Activity in 2016 is 13.7% Less Than in 2015

In 2016, the total amount of expenditure on research and development activity (R&D) was 734.0 million BGN which was 13.7% less than the previous year.

R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as % of GDP) also decreased in comparison with the previous year - from 0.96% in 2015 to 0.78% in 2016.

The decrease in total R&D expenditure in 2016 compared to the previous year was mostly due to the business enterprise sector where R&D expenditure decreased by 86.2 million BGN or by 13.8%.

The business enterprise sector continues to be the largest of the four institutional sectors of R&D performance with a share of 73.3% of the total R&D expenditure. It was followed by the government sector, higher education sector and private non-profit sector with share of respectively 21.2%, 5.2% and 0.3%.

The R&D activity was financed from the state budget, businesses, other national sources and from abroad. In 2016, the largest was the share of R&D funds coming from the business enterprise sector - 43.6%. They increased by 5.7% compared to the previous 2015 (from 302.6 million BGN to 320.0 million BGN). Compared to 2015, the funds from foreign sources for R&D decreased by 32.7% (from 372.9 million BGN to 250.9 million BGN).

In the structure of R&D expenditure by fields of science, the highest share belonged to technical sciences - 57.2% or 419.5 million BGN, followed by medical and health sciences with a share of 19.1% (140.3 million BGN) and the natural sciences - 13.0% (95.6 million BGN).

In 2016, the personnel employed with research and development activity amounted to 25 033 persons (in full-time equivalent), which was 11.3% more than in the previous year. The share of women in total R&D personnel was 47.6%, as the difference in the level of employment between genders was 4.8 percentage points in favor of men. The number of researchers also increased by 1 754 persons or by 12.3% compared to 2015. As in 2015, the main part of scientific staff is concentrated in companies and research institutes in the business enterprise sector - 44.8% of the total staff (in full-time equivalents) or 11 226 persons. In organizations and institutions of the government sector in scientific activities were involved 8 047 persons, which constitutes 32.1% of the total personnel engaged in R&D in 2016. In the higher education sector 5 707 persons are engaged in research and development, with a relative share of 22.8%.

Source: National Statistical Institute (NSI) 

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