Be the first to comment!Government’s total expenditure up 4.4% on R&D
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In 2009, total expenditure by General Government on R&D registered an increase of 4.4 per cent and amounted to €11.9 million.
The activity of the General Government Sector in research and development (R&D) was measured through a survey carried out in the first quarter of 2010. The total number of respondents was 141 units, of which 15 were actively engaged in R&D projects during 2009. Four of these units were Government Departments, while 11 were Extra Budgetary Units (EBUs).
R&D Expenditure
During 2009, total estimated expenditure on R&D activities by General Government amounted to €11.9 million, up by 4.4 per cent over 2008 (Table 2). Labour costs represented 72.5 per cent of total expenditure, whereas other recurrent expenditures and capital projects had a share of 22.3 and 5.2 per cent respectively. In line with past years, the highest R&D expenditure in the General Government sector was recorded in the field of Social Sciences, which accounted for 29.1 per cent of total expenditure, followed by Engineering and Technology and Medical Sciences, with 17.8 per cent apiece. As shown in Table 3, all R&D activity in Social Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Medical Sciences and Humanities was undertaken by the EBUs.
The highest inflow of funds was from General University funds, since R&D carried out by the University of Malta represents 84.9 per cent of the total. Concurrently, foreign funds for R&D totalled €1.9 million, or 15.7 per cent of total funds.
R&D Employment
In 2009, 954 employees were engaged in R&D work within the General Government Sector, of whom 890 worked on a part-time basis. There was a predominance of men among PhD researchers and technicians, while women prevailed among support staff, in their majority.
In 2009, the highest employment activity in R&D was recorded in the Social Sciences with 265 employees, while a decline of 135 employees has been observed in the Medical Sciences compared to the previous year. Engineering and technology registered 185 employees. In Malta, the Higher Education Sector (HES) is included within the EBU category.
