Ireland's UN SDG's - Goal 9 Industry Innovation and Infrastructure 2021

GBARD by Government Department

In 2019, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) was responsible for the largest proportion of Government investment in R&D at €408.4m or 50.9% of total GBARD.  For DETE, this represents 42.9% of its total budget.  The Department of Education had an R&D outturn in 2019 of €209.2m or 26.1% of GBARD.  The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine invested €92.3m or 11.5% of total GBARD in 2019.

GBARD as a Percentage of GDP/GNP/GNI*

In order to compare state funding of R&D across countries, the OECD recommends using the GBARD indicator with data derived using the guidelines set out in the Frascati Manual.

GBARD includes all funding for R&D from direct exchequer sources.  It also includes funding for R&D in the humanities and social sciences.  

In Figure 6.1, the GBARD trend line shows that there has been an annual downward trend between 2009 and 2013 falling from €890.4m to €721.7m.  

Since 2014 levels of funding have been maintained, with the outturn figure falling slightly for GBARD in 2016 being €718.9m before increasing again to €802.2m in 2019.  In 2020, estimated funding has increased by 8.4% over 2019 to €869.2m.  See Figure 6.1.

The GBARD intensity rate (State R&D funding for R&D activities as a percentage of economic activity) fell over the past decade to 0.29% of GNP, 0.23% of GDP and 0.38% of GNI* in 2019.  It is projected to increase in 2020 to 0.32%, 0.25% and 0.43% of GNP, GDP and GNI* respectively.  Please note that the 2020 figures are based on estimated decreases in GDP of 1.3% in current prices, 1.8% for GNP and 4.7% for GNI*, and an estimated increase in GBARD of 1.2%.  See Table 6.1 and Figure 6.2.

The declining trend in GBARD intensity is due to two factors:

1. Our economy has grown quickly: GDP in current prices has increased by 109% between 2009 and 2019 and GNP and GNI* have increased by 95% and 58% respectively over the same period; and
2. GBARD has declined by 14.2% over the period 2009-2019, despite the upward trajectory in recent years.

Table 6.1 also shows the trend in GDP and GNI* since 2009.  The economy has grown particularly quickly following the downturn, with GNI* increasing by 69% between 2012 and 2019.  See Figure 6.3.

Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD)

GERD is defined as the total expenditure (current and capital) on R&D carried out by all resident companies, research institutes, university and government laboratories, etc., in a country.  It includes R&D funded from abroad but excludes domestic funds for R&D performed outside the domestic economy. (OECD: Main Science & Technology Indicators)

GERD is estimated by surveying the performers of R&D by sector in Ireland and data is provided by the following surveys:

Business Sector: (BERD - Business Expenditure on R&D)

The Business Expenditure on Research and Development (BERD) Survey is a survey of the research and development activities of enterprises in Ireland and other EU Member States.  Data is collected every two years by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and results are available on the CSO website.

Higher Education Sector: (HERD - Higher Education R&D)

The Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey is a survey of the research and development activities of third level institutions in Ireland and other EU Member States.  Survey data is collected every two years by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and is made available on the gov.ie website.

Government Sector: (GOVERD - Government R&D)

This data comes from the ‘The R&D Budget 2019-2020’ report which is now the responsibility of DFHERIS. 

In 2019, Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) increased to €4,373m and represents a 60% increase over the 2009 figure of €2,736m.

GERD is the sum of R&D expenditure in the business, higher education and government sectors.

• The highest expenditure on R&D continues to be in the business sector where €3,256.3m was invested in research programmes in 2019.  Despite a reduction in spending in 2010 and 2011, there has been an upward trend in R&D expenditure in the business sector since 2009.
• The higher education sector saw a decline in R&D expenditure between 2009 and 2012, however, since 2013 there has been a reversal of this trend with R&D expenditure reaching an estimated €952.4m in 2019.
• The Government sector is the smallest sector with €164.7m of research being carried out in 2019 in government institutions e.g. Teagasc and the Marine Institute. (Government sector figures include an estimate for government funded Hospital performed R&D of €35 million).

See Table 6.2 and Figure 6.4.

Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) expressed as a percentage of GDP, GNP and GNI* stood at 1.23%, 1.59% and 2.05% respectively in 2019.  See Table 6.3.

As a percentage of both GDP, GNP and GNI*, GERD has been falling since 2012 when it reached a high of 1.57%, 1.99% and 2.18% respectively.  The actual amount of R&D investment has increased over this period, however, GDP, GNP and GNI* levels have increased at a faster rate.   See Table 6.3 and Figure 6.5.

As a percentage of GNI*, expenditure in the business sector fell from 1.6% in 2012 to 1.5% in 2019.  As a percentage of GNI Ireland’s GERD was 2.0%, HERD was 0.4% and GOVERD was 0.1% in 2019.  See Table 6.4 and Figure 6.6.

Business Expenditure on Research and Development Survey (CSO)

The Business Expenditure on Research and Development survey for 2019-2020, from the CSO, shows that €3.26bn was spent on R&D by enterprises in 2019 in Ireland.  Services sector had the highest total R&D expenditure in 2019.

This represents an increase of 17.5% compared with actual expenditure in 2017.  Current expenditure, which comprises of labour costs and other current costs, accounted for 82.9% of all expenditure in 2019, with capital expenditure accounting for the remaining 17.1% or €555.7m of total expenditure.

R&D in Irish-owned enterprises rose from €858.8m in 2017 to €963.0m in 2019, an increase of €104.1m or 12.1%.  See Table 6.5, Figure 6.7, Figure 6.8 and Map 6.1.

National Accounts R&D Data Series

The National Accounts R&D data series includes expenditure on R&D services carried out in another country funded by Irish based enterprises, and net imports of IP assets (results of R&D e.g. patents).  Both of these items make a significant contribution to the R&D recorded in the National Accounts (which also includes the domestic R&D carried out in Ireland).  Full details can be seen in the latest National Income and Expenditure 2020 Report.

The R&D figure for 2020 is €101 billion and is 27% of GDP.  See Table 6.6.

Researchers (Full-Time Equivalent - FTE) by Sector

The R&D personnel numbers include researchers, technicians and support staff.  Figure 6.10 focuses on researchers only and reports the full-time equivalent numbers. 

According to the budget report there were 22,808 researchers (FTEs) working across all sectors in 2018 with numbers increasing since 2010.

• There has been a decline in the number of researchers employed in the Higher Education sector after 2016 due to a break in the methodology which has reduced the misclassification of R&D personnel across the different categories.
• Researchers in the Business sector has increased by 54.6% since 2010.
• A small number of researchers (652 in 2018) are employed directly in the Government sector.

See Table 6.8 and Figure 6.10.

Three in five of all R&D staff were employed in research

According to the CSO, Business Expenditure on Research and Development report, enterprises were asked to indicate the numbers of staff who devoted any of their time to R&D activities.  R&D personnel includes researchers (PhD qualified and others), technicians and other support staff.

In total, there were 27,755 persons engaged in R&D in Ireland in 2019.  Of this total, 59.8% or 16,609 persons were employed as researchers, of which 1,966 were PhD qualified researchers.

In addition, there were 6,832 (24.6%) technicians and 4,313 (15.5%) support staff.  See Table 6.9, Figure 6.11, Figure 6.12 and Map 6.2.

R&D Personnel (FTEs) by Sector and Occupation, 2018

More than half (60.4%) of all R&D personnel are employed in the Business sector, a total of 18,956 FTEs. 

Over 6 in ten (64.3%) of Business Sector R&D personnel are researchers.

Nearly nine in ten (88.6%) of R&D personnel (FTEs) in the higher education sector are researchers.  See Table 6.10.

In the CSO ‘Information Society Statistics’ survey in 2018 respondents were asked about their use of smartphones for private purposes.  

More than three in four (77%) people aged 16-74 used a smartphone for private purposes in 2020, according to the ‘Information Society Statistics’ survey from the CSO. The proportion of males (76%) and females (78%) who used a smartphone were very similar.

Smartphone usage was very high (90%) for those people who used the internet within the previous year, with very little difference between people in the different deprivation quintiles. In the very affluent quintile, 94% of people had used a smartphone compared with 90% of those in the very disadvantaged quintile.

The highest smartphone usage was 98% among students. See Table 6.14 and Map 6.3.