Ljubljana - Gross domestic expenditure on R&D amounted to EUR 1 billion last year, an increase of 2% compared to 2019, according to provisional data. That was a record both in absolute terms and as a share of GDP - 2.15% of GDP or 0.1 percentage point more than in the previous year, the Statistics Office said on Friday.

The business sector again accounted for the largest share (73%) of research and development (R&D) spending last year, amounting to EUR 738.6 million.

This was followed by the public sector (EUR 138.6 million), the higher education sector (EUR 123.2 million) and the private non-profit sector (EUR 7.1 million).

Compared to the previous year, R&D expenditure increased in all sectors. In absolute terms, the biggest increase was in the business sector (EUR 7.3 million), while the biggest increase in relative terms was recorded in the private non-profit sector (17%).

Businesses continued to be the biggest contributors to R&D financing, with provisional figures showing that they accounted for EUR 490.8 million, which is 49% of total R&D spending.

However, the structure of R&D funding changed compared to the previous year. Corporate funding was lower by EUR 118.6 million (19%), while funding from abroad was higher by EUR 116.7 million (89%).

Provisional data show that 25,175 people were involved in R&D last year, roughly the same as in 2019. The numbers also remained about the same across sectors, with the exception of the private non-profit sector, which saw an increase of 19%.