AUSTRIA’S RESEARCH SPENDING CONTINUES TO RISE
2014 is likely to see 2.88% of GDP spent on research. This research ratio puts Austria in 5th place in EU comparisons.
According to a forecast by Statistics Austria , Austrian expenditure on research and experimental development (R&D) is set to rise by 2.7% in 2014 to total EUR 9.32 bn. This represents research spending as a percentage of GDP (gross domestic product) of 2.88%.
The largest share of research expenditure is covered by Austrian companies at EUR 4.15 bn (44.5%), followed by the public sector with EUR 3.61 bn (38.7%). EUR 42.5 mn (0.5%) comes from the private non-profit sector. The rest of R&D spending flows in from abroad (16.4% or EUR 1.53 bn), the majority of which is from international companies whose subsidiaries conduct research in Austria. Funding from EU programmes is also included in this figure.
Austrian research spending puts the country in fifth place in the EU (international comparison from 2012). Only Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany have higher R&D spending as a percentage of GDP. The average research ratio of the EU28 stands at 2.06%.
