Bulgaria continues to lag behind with innovations

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.

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