Central government R&D expenditure rises by 35% during 2010

During 2010, total estimated expenditure on R&D activities by General Government amounted to €15.7 million, representing a 35% increase cent over 2009’s expenditure.

The biggest increase was in capital expenditure, which rose from €635,000 in 2009 to €3.5 million in 2010. It represents an increase of just under €3 million. This figure was composed of €1.2 million in Land and Buildings (€462,000 in 2009), and €2.3 million in Instruments Equipment (€163,000 in 2009).

The NSO said in a statement on Monday that “this development was triggered by higher outlays on capital expenditure by €2.9 million by the University of Malta, which involved additional investment in instruments and equipment and in land and buildings, mainly co-financed by EU funds.”

It added that, concurrently, recurrent expenditure registered an increase of €1.2 million from €11.0 million in 2009 to €12.2 million in 2010.

“This comprised a rise in labour costs and other recurrent expenditure. Labour costs represented 58.8 per cent of total expenditure, whereas capital projects and other recurrent expenditures had shares of 22.3 and 18.9 per cent respectively,” the NSO said.

In 2010, the field of Engineering and Technology recorded a substantial rise in R&D activity when compared to previous years, contributing 47.4 per cent to the increase in total R&D expenditure in the General Government Sector.

R&D expenditure related to Engineering and Technology accounted for 25.9 per cent of total expenditure, followed by Social Sciences with 21.6 per cent and Medical Sciences with 20.8 per cent.

The highest inflow of funds was from General University funds, since R&D carried out by the University of Malta in 2010 represented 90.9 per cent of the total.

Foreign funds for R&D totalled €3.8 million, or 24.1 per cent of total funds.

Additionally, out of a total 146 General Government Sector units, 13 were actively engaged in R&D projects last year, survey carried out in the first quarter has revealed, the same number as those engaged in R&D projects in 2009.

Of these, five were Government Departments, while eight were Extra Budgetary Units.

In 2010, 1,015 employees were reportedly engaged in R&D work within the General Government Sector, of whom 968 worked on a part-time basis. There was a predominance of men among PhD researchers and technicians, while women prevailed among support staff.

In 2010, the highest employment activity in R&D was recorded in the Social Sciences, with 279 employees, followed by Medical Science and Engineering and Technology, with 205 and 194 employees respectively.