Cyprus lagging in research spending
According to Eurostat, Cyprus spends far less on research and development than most other European Union countries, as just 0.85% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or EUR 184.8 mln, went into research activities in 2020.
Although spending slightly more than in pre-coronavirus 2019, compared to EUR 164.4 mln or 0.71% of GDP, the country spent significantly less than the EU average of 2.32% of GDP going into research.
Expenditure on research grew by 12.4% in 2020 compared to 2019. However, the share of Cyprus’ GDP attributable to R&D activities remains low compared to other countries.
Cyprus also has one of the highest average annual growth rates in research expenditure, amounting to 10.7% from 2000-2020, compared to 4% in the European Union during the same period.
The average share in the bloc is 2.32% (ranging from 0.47% in Romania, 0.66% in Malta and 0.71% in Latvia to 3.22% in Austria, 3.38% in Belgium and 3.49% in Sweden).
The private business sector is the largest contributor to Cyprus’ research activities, with a reported expenditure of EUR 81.9 mln or 44.3% of the total in 2020.
Universities followed with EUR 66.6 mln or 36.1%, private non-profit institutions EUR 24.9 mln or 13.5%, and the public sector EUR 11.4 mln or 6.1%.
Information and communication companies were the main contributors to the business sector, spending EUR 47.0 mln.
The manufacturing industry (particularly the production of basic pharmaceuticals and preparations and the manufacturing of computers, electronic and optical products, and electrical equipment) made a significant contribution with EUR 26.0 mln.
Public resources funded 23.0% of research activity in 2020 with EUR 42.5 mln, compared to EUR 36.8 mln or 22.4% in 2019, while EUR 23.0 mln came from the public universities’ budget and EUR 38.9 mln from external sources (including European Union funds).
Most of the research expenditure was concentrated in the field of sciences with EUR 82.2 mln, while engineering absorbed EUR 60.0 mln, social sciences EUR 19.0 mln, medical sciences EUR 9.6 mln, agricultural sciences EUR 7.4 mln and humanities EUR 6.5 mln.
The number of people employed in research activities was 4,196, compared to 4,082 in 2019.
In full-time equivalent terms, this number is estimated at 2,231 people, of which 877 or 39.3% were women, while 32.7% of the research workforce held a PhD.