South Africa’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) increased in 2017/18 for the seventh year in succession, the 2017/18 National Research and Experimental Development Survey, published on Thursday, has reported. However, this growth trend is decelerating.

Furthermore, in terms of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), GERD was virtually unchanged. In 2016/17 GERD amounted to 0.82% of South Africa’s GDP, while in 2017/18 it came to 0.83%.

In current rand values, national GERD amounted to R38.725-billion in 2017/18, as against R35.693-billion in 2016/17. This represented a nominal 8.5% rise. When calculated in constant 2010 prices, GERD grew by 3.1% from 2016/17 to 2017/18, reaching R25.963-billion.

The number of R&D staff in the country also increased. In 2016/17 the country employed 80 029 people in R&D. In 2017/18 this had increased by 4 233 to 84 262, a rise of 5.3%.

In terms of the ratio of full-time equivalent researchers for every 1 000 people with jobs, this was 1.8 in 2017/18, a slight rise from the 1.7 in 2016/17 (and in 2015/16). However, the number of technicians and other R&D staff had remained pretty static since 2012/13, at about 11 300 and 11 600 respectively. This was a matter for concern, and the country especially needed more technicians, given the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The largest source of R&D funding was government (46.7% of the total), with business second (41.5%). Other local sources contributed 1.6% and foreign sources were responsible for 10.2%.

The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) defines GERD as “an aggregated measure of in-house R&D [research and development] expenditure performed domestically in five sectors, namely government, science councils, higher education institutions, the business sector, and the not for profit sector”. The survey was carried out on behalf of the DSI by the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators of the Human Sciences Research Council, supported by Statistics South Africa.