Bulgaria's R&D Spending at 0.26% of GDP in 2013

Society » EDUCATION | September 8, 2014, Monday // 12:58
Bulgaria: Bulgaria's R&D Spending at 0.26% of GDP in 2013 Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) HQ in Sofia, photo by BGNES

Bulgaria continues to be at the bottom at the EU ranking by research & development expenditure, registering R&D spending of 0.26% of GDP in 2013, compared to an EU average of 0.7% of GDP.

Increasing investments in the sector is one of the targets included in the "Europe 2020" strategy, according to data of Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute (NSI).

Bulgaria has to reach a level of 1.5% of GDP of investments in R&D by 2020, including public and private investments, according to Sega daily.

Compared to 2012, Bulgaria's public spending on R&D increased by 1.3% in terms of absolute amount.

In the crisis year of 2009, Bulgaria's R&D spending amounted to 0.34% of GDP, after which it was cemented at 0.25% of the GDP in 2011 and 2012.

A major part of public spending goes to research of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and Bulgarian universities. In 2013, BAS and Bulgarian universities were allocated BGN 99.3 M.

The sectors which received the largest amounts of funding were forestry and agriculture (20% of the total R&D spending), improvement of industrial production and technology (7.8%), and development of education (7.3%), with energy production, storage and use (0.2%) at the bottom of the ranking.

The implementation of transnational scientific projects coordinated by the European Commission was supported with a total of BGN 5.2 M from the state budget.

The total of R&D investments of the state and the business sector in 2012 amounted to 9.64% of the GDP, compared to 2.07% for the EU.

In 2012, Bulgaria's public spending on research and development amounted to EUR 13.8 per capita, compared to an EU average of EUR 178.6 per capita.

Norway was the EU leader by R&D expenditure with EUR 621.7, followed by Luxembourg with EUR 538.3, and Denmark with EUR 451.1.

Bulgaria is remarkable for its low rate of spending on research in healthcare, at EUR 0.4, compared to an EU average of EUR 15.6 per capita.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Education » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, BAS, research and development, GDP, public spending, R&D

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria