22.12.2009
R&D Statistics
Scientific research and development activities in Slovenia are relatively well developed compared to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Figures for 2008 reveal that the number of researchers per 1,000 workers was over the EU-27 average. By international standards, some sciences in Slovenia have reached the highest levels (e.g. biochemistry, physics, biology, pharmaceutics and mathematics). The number of scientific publications per million people in Slovenia is above the average recorded in the EU.
According to the estimate, in 2008 the share of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) in GDP was 1.66%, which is 0.2 percentage point more than in 2007. Regarding investment in R&D, Slovenia is close to the EU average (1.9 per cent in 2008). A relatively high share of GDP invested in R&D compared to other EU-12 countries. Most of the new Member States have relatively low R&D intensities, with only Slovenia and the Czech Republic exceeding 1%.
The main strengths of Slovenian research and development (R&D) are:
- Relatively high quality scientific research and activities in the public sector, with well-established international cooperation.
- Relatively young and fairly numerous researchers, with negligible brain drain.
R&D intensity (GERD as % of GDP), 2008
- Source: Eurostat, 2009
R&D intensity in the new Member States is on average lower than in EU-27. Although R&D intensity is above 1.5% for Slovenia, the rest of the new Member States returned figures below 1.5% in 2008.
Average annual real growth (%) of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD), 1999-2008
- Source: Eurostat, 2009
Slovenia, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Latvia and Luxembourg represent a second group of low R&D intensive countries. Up to 2000, R&D intensity in these countries was increasing much faster than average. Their catching-up process, however, has slowed (Slovenia) or has even come to an end (Czech Republic, Latvia, Portugal and Greece) after 2000.
GERD financed by business enterprise and by government as % of GDP
- Source: Eurostat, 2009
For the countries with established high R&D intensities, growth was exclusively driven by the business sector (Denmark, Sweden, Germany), whereas in Belgium, Austria, Spain, Slovenia, France and Finland, government-funding also played an important role.
R&D expenditure by main sources of founds (%), 2008
- Source: Eurostat, 2009
The sources of finance are more balanced in the new Member States. In these countries the share of the government sector is as well important as the business enterprise sector.
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP, 2000-2008
- Source: Eurostat, 2009
GERD, by source of funding, 2008
- Source: Eurostat, 2009
Human resources for R&D
Researchers employed by main field of science, 2007
- Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2009
According to the survey on research and development there were 12,600 persons employed in 2005; the number of persons employed increased to 13,521 in 2006 and to 14,311 persons employed in R&D in 2007.
European patents per million of population, 2006
- Source: Eurostat, 2009
Most of the new EU Member States remain at a rather low level of national patenting, measured as EPO patent applications per million inhabitants. Slovenia is an exception to the rule with 58 patent applications per million inhabitants in 2006.
The core part of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) is the calculation of the Summary Innovation Index (SII), which makes it possible to divide the EU-27 Member States into four groups depending on their innovation performance:
- Innovation leaders: Sweden, Finland, Germany, Denmark and United Kingdom.
- Innovation followers: Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
- Moderate innovators: Cyprus, Estonia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy.
- Catching-up countries: Malta, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria.
