Ljubljana, 11 November (STA) - A total of EUR 935m or 2.6% of the country's GDP was earmarked last year for research and development (R&D), which is 1% or EUR 7m more than in 2012, according to preliminary data released by the Statistics Office.
Most funds for R&D were spent in the business sector, EUR 715.5m or 77% of total funds, followed by the general government sector (EUR 121.7m or 13%) and higher education (EUR 97.4m or 10%).
Compared to 2012, the business sector spent EUR 12.4m more for R&D, while higher education decreased its R&D spending by EUR 5.8m.
The biggest share of R&D funds was contributed by companies (EUR 597m or EUR 19.4m more than in 2012), followed by financial assets provided by the state (EUR 251.3m or EUR 14.9m less than in 2012) and financial assets from abroad (EUR 83.3m).
Among a total of 21,272 individuals regularly employed in the R&D sector in 2013, 12,111 or 57% were researchers. Women represented 36% of the total number of researchers.
The share of researchers was the highest in higher education (78%), followed by the general government sector (72%) and the business sector (44%).