The expenditures on research and development activities totaled 5.61 billion RON in 2021, accounting for 0.48% of the gross domestic product, of which 0.19% were for the public sector and 0.29% for the private sector, according to data centralized by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
According to the INS, of the mentioned amount, 5.13 billion RON represent current expenses (91.4%), and 481.2 million RON represent capital expenses (respectively 8.6%), told Agerpres.
According to the funding sources of the total research and development expenses, in 2021, the sources provided by enterprises had the highest weight, respectively 51.8%, followed by public funds (including general university public funds), respectively 31.6%.
Within the performance sectors, the largest amounts of public funds were received by units from the government sector (73.1%), followed by units from the higher education sector (65.6%).
The sources of funding for the research-development activities from abroad were mostly directed towards the units of the business sector (57.4%), the government sector (24.6%) and the higher education sector (17%).
On December 31, 2021, 47,011 employees worked in research and development, of whom 21,617 were women, respectively 46%.
According to the level of professional training, 85.8% of the number of employees who worked in research and development at the end of 2021 had higher education (40,320 employees) degrees, and 14.2% had another level of training, excluding higher education (6,691 employees).
In 2021, 18,982 people with PhD and post-PhD studies were involved in research and development, of whom 9,425 were women.
Depending on the hours actually worked, 72.9% of the employees who carried out research and development activity in 2021 worked full-time.
By occupation category, in 2021, the largest share of employees in the research and development sector was represented by researchers, 62.4% of the total, i.e. 29,347 employees, an increase of 1,257 employees, compared to 2020.