South Africa has once again failed to meet its ambitious research and development (R&D) targets, with the percentage of gross domestic product spend on R&D stagnating at 0.76%. This puts total R&D spend for 2012-2013 at about R24-billion.
Government is the largest funder of R&D in the country, at 45%, with industry lagging at 38%, according to the latest annual R&D survey undertaken by the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators at the Human Sciences Research Council.