Spending on research and development grew by 15 per cent between 1986 and 1995 according to a new report from Forfas.
The report shows that for the first time spending on R&D exceeded 1 per cent of GDP, bringing the Republic up to the same level as Norway, Denmark and Holland. In 1995, expenditure on R&D reached almost £400 million, which represented 1.02 per cent of GDP.
According to Forfas, one of the encouraging findings of the study is that growth rates in R&D among Irish-owned firms averaged about 22 per cent per annum in real terms between 1993 and 1995, outperforming foreign-owned firms, which grew at 15 per cent.
Most of the £400 million expenditure is accounted for by the electronics, software and pharmaceutical sectors, although growth in the food and textiles sectors has been equally strong.
According to the survey, 52 per cent of companies claimed to have undertaken at least some R&D in the three years from 1993 to 1995.
Only a quarter of these companies spent more than £100,000 on in-house R&D in 1995. A core group of about 480 companies have a continuous commitment to R&D and an expenditure on R&D of at least £100,000 per annum. Forfas director Mr Colm Regan as executive director said: "The growth rate in R&D has been very strong in the 1990s, which would indicate that significant amounts of EU funding, matched on a pound-for-pound basis by companies, have their desired effect."
At present up to £30 million of EU funds are allocated annually to industrial R&D under the Measure 1 initiative which runs up to 1999.
The report says the increase in R&D expenditure is "remarkable" in the context of declining, or at best static levels, of investment in the business sector in the OECD and the EU.
