Israel leads OECD in R&D

Civilian R&D investment reached 4.7% of GDP in 2007.

Israel tops the OECD in terms of civilian R&D expenditure as a proportion of GDP, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today. Israel spent NIS 31.5 billion on civilian R&D expenditure, 4.7% of GDP. The OECD average was 1.7% of GDP; Japan and South Korea each spent 3.2% of GDP on R&D, and the US spent 2.2%.

Israel's civilian R&D expenditure was 4.6% in 2006. In fixed prices, Israel's expenditure on civilian R&D rose by 7.2% in 2007, over the year before, after rising by 3.3% in 2006 and 4.5% in 2005.

Most of the increase in R&D spending was by high-tech and life sciences companies, including biotechnology firms, in which spending in 2007 was 13% higher than in 2006. R&D spending by software services companies rose by 10%, R&D spending by manufacturers rose by 4.3%, and R&D spending in NPOs rose by 4.8%. However, R&D spending in universities fell a further 0.4% in 2007 after falling by 1.4% in 2006.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 20, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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