In 2006, total R&D spending was SGD 5,010 million ($3,154.3 million), or 2.39% of GDP. Forty-three percent of this spending went to R&D personnel, other operating costs accounted for 39% and capital expenditure made up 18%. Two-thirds of total R&D spending came from private industry and 12%, 11% and 10% came from public research institutes, the higher education sector and the government sector, respectively. For total R&D spending, experimental development accounted for 47% of spending, applied research for 32% and basic research for 21%. Expenditures within the engineering and technology industries made up 58% of total R&D, biomedical and related industries added 21%, 10% came from natural sciences (excluding bioscience), 1% from agriculture and food sciences and 11% from other fields. The manufacturing industries, including electronics, biomedical sciences and chemicals, contributed 67% to private sector R&D expenditure, while service industries added 33%. According to the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*STAR) survey, 897 private companies conducted R&D during 2006. Of the 900 companies that reported R&D activity in 2005, 80% said that they conducted R&D in 2006 and 13% replied that they did not perform R&D or that they had ceased operations. Source: A*STAR