R&D in Iceland

In 2007, R&D expenditure in Iceland amounted to
35 billion ISK (ca. 335 MEUR). As a share of the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), R&D expenditure
accounted for 2,7%

From 2005 to 2007 total R&D expenditure in fixed
prices has increased by 5 billion ISK (ca. 60 MEUR)
or by 17%. R&D expenditure, as a share of the GDP,
has decreased by 1 percentage point whilst the GDP has
increased by 27% since 2005.

Of all sectors, R&D expenditure was highest (34%) in the
health sector in 2005, amounting to 9,3 billion ISK (ca. 111 MEUR).
In comparison, 3,1 billion ISK (ca. 37 MEUR) was spent on R&D in
the fisheries and agriculture (11%). Basic research is not included in
these figures.

Iceland ranks 6th among OECD countries for the R&D/GDP ration. Sweden,
Finland, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland are ranked ahead of Iceland.

The private sector spent about 19 billion ISK (ca. 217 MEUR) on R&D in 2007. This
constitutes about 54,6% of Iceland's gross expenditure on R&D (GERD).

In 2007, approximately 50% of the total expenditure on R&D was financed by the private sector, 38% by the government and 10% of the funding came from abroad.

In 2007, Sweden had a lower level of R&D expenditure per capita (i.e. 86 thousand ISK or ca. 1 thousand EUR) than Iceland (112 thousand ISK or ca. 1,3 thousand EUR), whilst Iceland also had higher levels than Norway (55 thousand ISK or ca. 660 EUR)

About three thousand FTE's were performed in Iceland in 2007 Almost half of the country's FTEs (49,7%) were performed within the private sector.

(Compiled by RANNIS in 2009)

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