2 April 2001
Inquiries: Mr Tero Luhtala+358 9 1734 3327, Mr
Markku Virtaharju +358 9 1734 3290, teknologia.tiede@stat.fi
Director in charge: Ms Kaija Hovi
Research and development expenditure approximately FIM 25.9 billion in 2000
In 1999, FIM 23.1 billion was spent on research and development in Finland. The expenditure rose in real terms by almost 15 per cent from the year before. The growth of R&D expenditure continued through 2000, when it is estimated to reach FIM 25.9 billion. The data derive from Statistics Finland's publication Tutkimus- ja kehittämistoiminta 1999 (Research and Development in Finland in 1999, in Finnish only).
The GDP share of R&D expenditure rose to 3.2 per cent in 1999. This share has been growing steadily throughout the 1990s. In 2000, the GDP share is estimated to be 3.3 per cent.
Finland's R&D expenditure is very small in volume compared to larger OECD countries. Finland accounts for about 0.6 per cent of the total R&D expenditure of OECD countries. However, Finland's GDP share of R&D expenditure is among the highest of all OECD countries. In 1999 the GDP share was still largest in Sweden, at 3.8 per cent. The shares have also been big in Japan, the United States and South Korea.
Business enterprises' R&D expenditure has grown strongly
R&D spending by business enterprises amounted to FIM 15.7 billion in 1999. Business enterprises' R&D expenditure went up in real terms by 17 per cent from 1998. Business enterprises' proportion of all R&D expenditure has risen strongly during the 1990s: in 1991 it was 57 per cent and in 1999 as high as 68 per cent. The growth continues brisk, since in 2000 business enterprises estimated their R&D expenditure to have reached FIM 18.4 billion.
Growth boosted by electronic industry in the 1990s
In the electronic industry, R&D spending in 1999 amounted to a total of FIM 8.5 billion, which is more than one half of all the R&D expenditure of business enterprises. R&D expenditure in the electronic sector rose in real terms by 24 per cent from 1998. In the metal and mechanical industry the growth was recorded at 5 per cent, while in the chemical industry the expenditure remained unchanged.
The growth of R&D expenditure in the business enterprise sector has occurred almost exclusively in business enterprises in the electronic sector. In real terms, R&D spending in the electronic industry was in 1999 almost five-fold greater than in 1991, while in the other industries the increase was 1.5-fold.
R&D expenditure in the university sector, i.e. universities, university central hospitals and polytechnics, totalled FIM 4.5 billion in 1999 and that of the other public sector FIM 2.8 billion. The real growth of university sector R&D spending from 1997 to 1999 was around 11 per cent without the effect of the polytechnics recorded for the first time in 1999. The growth in the other public sector was 5 per cent.
Over two thirds of Finland's R&D expenditure is produced in the sub-regional units of Helsinki, Tampere or Oulu. The sub-regional unit of Helsinki accounted for 45 per cent of R&D expenditure in the whole country in 1999. The second largest was the sub-regional unit of Tampere with 13 per cent. Research and development is also strongly concentrated in the sub-regional units of Oulu (11%), Turku (6%), Jyväskylä (3%) and Salo (3%).
Number of R&D personnel up by 10 per cent
A total of 67,000 employees were working at research and development in 1999. The number of R&D personnel rose by 10 per cent from the year before. Women accounted for one third of R&D personnel. The proportion of women was clearly larger in the public sector (46%) and in the university sector (45%) than in enterprises (22%).
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R&D expenditure (at current prices) in 1991 - 1999 and GDP share of R&D expenditure and estimate for 2000 |
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|
Business enterprise sector |
Public sector* |
University sector** |
Total |
GDP share of R&D expenditure*** |
||||
|
Year |
FIM mn |
% |
FIM mn |
% |
FIM mn |
% |
FIM mn |
% |
|
1991 |
5,798 |
57.0 |
2,126 |
20.9 |
2,248 |
22.1 |
10,172 |
2.04 |
|
1993 |
6,234 |
58.4 |
2,258 |
21.1 |
2,185 |
20.5 |
10,677 |
2.17 |
|
1995 |
8,166 |
63.2 |
2,226 |
17.2 |
2,524 |
19.6 |
12,916 |
2.30 |
|
1997 |
11,396 |
66.0 |
2,430 |
14.1 |
3,446 |
20.0 |
17,272 |
2.72 |
|
1998 |
13,395 |
67.2 |
2,639 |
13.2 |
3,911 |
19.4 |
19,945 |
2.89 |
|
1999 |
15,720 |
68.2 |
2,795 |
12.1 |
4,547 |
19.7 |
23,062 |
3.19 |
|
2000 |
18,411 |
71.1 |
2,878 |
11.1 |
4,601 |
17.8 |
25,890 |
3.30 |
|
* Incl. private non-profit sector. ** Incl. university hospitals since 1997 and polytechnics from 1999. *** Preliminary data in 1999, the GDP data for 2000 are based on the Ministry of Finance's forecast. |
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Sources: Tutkimus- ja kehittämistoiminta 1999
(Research and Development in Finland 1999). Statistics
Finland.
Tiede ja teknologia 2000 (Science and Technology in Finland 2000).
Statistics Finland.
More information available on the Internet at http://www.stat.fi/tk/yr/tttiede.html