Singapore’s gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) increased 14.8% to SGD 7.4 billion ($6.1 billion) in 2011. Spending on R&D by the private sector grew 17.2% to account for 62% of total R&D expenditures. For private R&D, spending on basic research, applied research and experimental development increased 20.1%, 11.7% and 19.7% to make up 10%, 30% and 60%, respectively. For private R&D, chemicals and biomedical sciences spending increased 0.9% and fell 3.9% to SGD 357.8 million and SGD 573.8 million, respectively. Public R&D grew 12.0% in 2011. Strategic basic research, applied research and experimental development spending public R&D all increased, growing 15.1%, 19.3% and 15.0% to account for 23%, 39% and 28%, respectively. However, spending on pure basic research fell 22.0% to account for 10%. The largest increase in public R&D spending was for chemicals, for which it grew 17.0% to SGD 268.4 million. Public biomedical sciences R&D spending grew 4.2% to SGD 935.2 million. The number of research scientists and engineers in Singapore increased 4.2% to 29,482.

Source: Agency for Science, Technology and Research