Taiwan R&D expenditure ranked thirdELECTRONICS BOOST: Corporate spending, particularly in the manufacturing sector, has become the driving force behind Taiwan’s gross domestic expenditure on R&DBy Natasha Li / Staff reporterTaiwan’s gross domestic expenditure on research and development (R&D) is ranked third-highest in the world as it reached 3.36 percent of total gross domestic product, or NT$616 billion (US$20.55 billion), in 2018, the Ministry of Economic Affairs Department of Statistics said in a report yesterday. Taiwan’s gross domestic expenditure on R&D closely followed Israel’s and South Korea’s, which remained the top two spenders on R&D at 4.9 percent and 4.53 percent respectively in 2018. Corporate spending has become the main driving force behind Taiwan’s gross domestic expenditure on R&D, making up 80.3 percent of total expenditure, on a level with that of South Korea, ministry data showed. Taiwanese companies’ R&D spending in the service sector only made up 8.2 percent of total corporate expenditure on R&D. However, Taiwan’s spending on applied research increased 8 percentage points from 2017 to 2018, contributing 23 percent of total expenditure.

Source: Taipei Times May 29, 2020 15:56 UTC