R Reaches $1.6 Billion
Total research and development (R) expenditure in the 2004 reference period was $1.6 billion, according to the results of the Research and Development
Survey 2004, released today by Statistics New Zealand. Research and development expenditure in the 2004 reference period
comprised private sector expenditure of $648.1 million, government sector (excluding universities) expenditure of $498.4
million and university expenditure of $454.8 million.
Although not directly comparable with 2002 data due to survey design changes, there has been an increase in total R expenditure of 13.1 percent between 2002 and 2004. This increase was largely due to an increase of 24.5 percent in
private sector R spending. The government (excluding universities) sector increased by 8.4 percent, while the university sector
increased by 4.4 percent.
Total R expenditure has grown to 1.17 percent of New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004, which is a relatively low
figure by international standards. Australia reported R expenditure as 1.62 percent of GDP in 2002, while the OECD average was 2.26 percent.
The Research and Development Survey 2004 was a joint survey sponsored by the Ministry of Research, Science and
Technology (MoRST) and conducted by Statistics New Zealand. A full report on the results of the R Survey 2004 will be published in July 2005.
Brian Pink Government Statistician
END