Bulgaria continues to lag behind in terms of investments in innovations and development, data of the National Statistics Institute showed. In 2011, the total expenditure on research and development (R&D) was 0.57% of GDP, or 0.03 percentage points below the level of 2010. In terms of this indicator, we still seriously lag behind the average level of this index for the EU - 27, which was 2.0 % in 2010.

In 2011, R&D expenses were BGN 429.6 mln, or 1.9% more than in the previous year, while their growth, compared to previous years in absolute terms, does not affect R&D's intensity. And it is measured as a percentage of R&D expenditure of GDP, which is one of the key indicators used to measure the progress of the European Union (EU) in achieving the objectives of the new strategy "Europe 2020" - a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

The largest relative share in total R&D expenditures in 2011 was that of the Enterprise Sector - 53.3%, as compared to 2010, an increase of 7.8% was registered (from BGN 212.1 mln to BGN 228.7 mln). In 2011, compared to the previous year, a decrease was noticed in the sectors Higher Education and Government Administration - 11.2% (from BGN 49.5 mln to BGN 44.0 mln) and 2.0% (from BGN 157.1 mln to BGN 153.9 mln), respectively.

In recent years, foreign sources of funds for carrying out R&D in Bulgaria have become increasingly important - foreign companies, European programmes, international organisations, other governments, etc. For the first time in 2011, they have the largest share in total R&D expenditure - 43.9%, and they leave behind the former major source of funding - the Government Administration sector, with a share of 38.8%.

In the structure of R&D expenditure by field of science, same as 2010, the largest relative share of R&D expenditures are in the field of medical sciences - 43.5% (BGN 186.9 mln), followed by science and technology - with 21.9% (BGN 94.1 mln) and 19.1% (BGN 82.0 mln), respectively.