DOHA: Qatar’s gross domestic expenditure on the country’s research and development (R&D) sector hit QR3.25bn, according to data released by the Ministry of Development Planning and statistics (MDPS).
The expenditure on R&D amounted to 0.47 percent of Qatar’s GDP. The MDPS data shows that gross domestic expenditure on R&D by sector is accounted for 25.8 percent in business sector, 32.3 percent in government sector and 41.9 percent in higher education sector, of the total expenditure on R&D.
This R&D Survey 2012, conducted by the MDPS in cooperation with Qatar Foundation, shows that the gross domestic expenditure on R&D by type of research amounted to 27 percent in basic research, 50 percent in applied research and 23 percent in experimental development. The survey results also show that the gross domestic expenditure on R&D by type of research amounted to 27 percent in basic research, 50 percent in applied research and 23 percent in experimental development. As for gross domestic expenditure by type of expenditure, the percentage of expenditure on capital (cars and factories + land and buildings) was 22 percent, while the workforce cost was 37 percent, and expenditure on other current costs was 41 percent of total expenditure.
The results further show that gross domestic expenditure on R&D by field of science (FOS) amounted to 20 percent for natural science and 21 percent for engineering technology, while for medical and health science 27 percent and for social sciences and humanities 30 percent of total expenditure. The lesser proportion of expenditure was on agricultural science with two percent only.
There are 3,038 R&D personnel in Qatar, out of which 1,725 researchers are in various fields of science, accounting for 56.8 percent of R&D personnel, whereas the number of support employees amounts to 718 employees, which accounts for 23.6 percent of R&D personnel.
With regard to R&D, the State of Qatar is endeavoring great efforts in the higher education, health and industry sectors, notably; Qatar Science and Technology Park, Qatar Foundation, Qatar National Research Fund and University of Qatar, where these institutions represent the pounding heart of such efforts.
In terms of per capita GDP, population size and type of industries, Qatar can be compared to Luxembourg, Kuwait, Norway, Oman and Singapore. With the exception of population size, Qatar can be favourably compared to Saudi Arabia and Chinese Taipei.
In terms of per capita GDP, Qatar fits into the ‘top tier country list’ that include Luxembourg and Singapore. In terms of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD), Qatar ranked fourth in the table above with expenditure percentage of 0.47 percent of GDP.
