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News Bulletin

RECENT RELEASE

Japan's R&D expenditure dropped by 8.3% over year

[Introduction]

   The SBJ's 2010 Survey of Research and Development showed that in fiscal 2009 business enterprises spent much less on R&D compared with the previous fiscal year.

   The results of the survey were released on December 10th, 2010. The Survey has been conducted annually as of March 31 since 1953 to obtain basic data for promoting science and technology in Japan. It studies the annual R&D activities of business enterprises, non-profit institutions and public organizations, universities and colleges.

   The survey results are used for estimates of national accounts statistics and analyses for Science and Technology policies of the government, and they are often reported in various papers such as government White Papers.

[Summary]

   Japan's total expenditure on R&D during fiscal 2009 stood at 17.25 trillion yen, a decrease of 1.55 trillion yen (8.3%) from the previous fiscal year. This means the expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP reached 3.62%, down by 0.18 percentage points from the previous fiscal year.

Changes in R&D Expenditure

   When broken down by sector, business enterprises spent 11.98 trillion yen, universities and colleges 3.55 trillion yen, and non-profit institutions and public organizations 1.71 trillion yen.

   Compared with the previous fiscal year, expenditure by business enterprises, non-profit institutions and public organizations decreased by 1.65 trillion yen (12.1%) and 8 billion yen (0.5%), respectively, while that by universities and colleges increased by 105 billion yen (3.0%).

   Broken down by the source of funds, the non-government sector was the biggest contributor with 13.68 trillion. The central and local government sector supplied a further 3.50 trillion yen.

   Compared with the previous fiscal year, central and local government sector R&D spending increased by 150 billion yen (4.5%), while that by the non-government sector decreased by 1.71 trillion yen (11.1%).

   As of March 31, 2010, the number of researchers was 840 thousand, an increase of 0.2% from the previous year. The number of female researchers reached a new record of 121 thousand, accounting for 13.6% the total number of researchers.

   With regard to the technology balance of payments of business enterprises, receipts from technology exports stood at 2.02 trillion yen. This is a decrease of 210 billion (9.4%) from the previous fiscal year. Payments for technology imports stood at 535 billion yen, a decrease of 65 billion yen (10.9%). Consequently, the trade balance amounted to 1.48 trillion yen, a decrease of 145 billion yen or 8.9% from the previous fiscal year.

Technology Balance of Payments

Notes:

Financial flows such as R&D expenditure are reported for the year ending on the latest settling day prior to March 31, 2010, while the total for R&D personnel is as of March 31, 2010.

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