On 08 December 2016, OECD published a the ‘OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2016’, the report emphasises that the decrease in government funding of scientific and technological R&D can threaten innovation in certain countries when global challenges such as climate change and ageing demand decisive solutions.
More precisely, government spending in R&D in national and education institutions has decreased in 2014 since 1981 when the data were first collected. Total R&D spending is decreasing in many countries as health, pensions and social care receive a greater share of public resources. According to the report, total government spending on R&D in the OECD area has been declining since 2009, as a result of the global financial crisis.
OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Director Andrew Wyckoff underlined that “economic growth depends on innovation, and innovation will be vital to solve the big global headaches of the 21st Century from ageing populations and dementia to climate change and inequality”. He further added that “maintaining public funding of R&D, open science and international mobility for researchers is absolutely fundamental for the future of innovation.”
Currently, governments focus on offering R&D tax incentives to firms than funding R&D in universities and public laboratories. Therefore the funds are invested in the creation of products and hence profits rather than research.
Key findings of the report include:
• Over a third of the research done globally in government and higher education institutions takes place in non-OECD economies. China spent around twice as much on public R&D as Japan in 2014. India, Russia, Chinese Taipei, Iran and Argentina have some of the world’s biggest public science systems.
• Five countries – the US, China, Japan, Germany and India - accounted for 59% of global public R&D in 2014. In the future, economies with fast-growing populations and GDP, as in Africa, may become more important players.
• Charities, foundations and philanthropists have become increasingly prominent funders of university research in recent years, with a focus in the area of health.
The full report is available here: http://www.oecd.org/science/lower-public-r-d-spending-and-protectionist-risks-may-pose-a-threat-to-innovation.htm