Nation falls short of research and development goals

South Africa has once again failed to meet its ambitious research and development targets, with the percentage of gross domestic product spend on R&D stagnating at 0.76%. This puts the total R&D spend for 2012-13 at about R24 billion (US$2 billion), writes Sarah Wild for Mail & Guardian.

Government is the largest funder of R&D in the country, at 45%, with industry lagging at 38%, according to the latest annual R&D survey undertaken by the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators at the Human Sciences Research Council. The Department of Science and Technology maintained that the spend was “improving following the contraction in the two consecutive years, 2009-10 and 2010-11".

A major source of concern is business’s reticence to undertake research. While internationally and at home R&D spend took a dip owing to the 2008 financial crisis, the South African business sector’s investments have not recovered. Its R&D spend was R10.6 billion in 2012-13, which represents a decline of almost 4% between 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Full report on the Mail & Guardian site