<h1>R&D Statistics</h1>
<p>Singapore measures national research and development (<strong>R&D</strong>) performance primarily through the <strong>National Survey of Research, Innovation and Enterprise</strong> (<strong>RIE</strong>), conducted annually by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (<strong>A*STAR</strong>) under the Statistics Act 1973 (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). The survey publishes Gross Expenditure on R&D (<strong>GERD</strong>), Business Expenditure on R&D (<strong>BERD</strong>), Public Expenditure on R&D (<strong>PUBERD</strong>), R&D manpower, and related intensity ratios for a named calendar reference year. As of 11 August 2026, the latest published survey issue on A<em>STAR's survey page covers <strong>reference year 2023</strong> (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE, latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). This article explains how those statistics are defined, the latest verified dated headline figures with denominators, and why they must not be confused with multi-year Research, Innovation and Enterprise budget envelopes. Institutional roles of A</em>STAR versus the National Research Foundation (<strong>NRF</strong>) are covered in <a href="/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.science-research.astar-and-public-research">astar and public research</a>; compact dated anchors sit in <a href="/en/knowledge/dataset/sgkb.data.rd-expenditure-anchors">rd expenditure anchors</a>.</p>
<h2>How Singapore reports national R&D</h2>
<p>Singapore's National Survey of RIE is the primary statistical source for national R&D expenditure and manpower. A<em>STAR conducts the survey annually; SingStat and data.gov.sg redistribute selected series under Industry → Research and Development, with footnotes stating that the data come from A</em>STAR's survey of government, public research institutes, institutes of higher learning, and the private sector (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE, accessed Aug 2026</a>; <a href="https://data.gov.sg/datasets/d_d3b0daf4a0dbbb1a2ada0ae3f8e98029/view">data.gov.sg R&D expenditure dataset, accessed Aug 2026</a>). Redistributed tables can lag the latest survey PDF, so for the newest reference year prefer the National Survey of RIE publication linked from A*STAR's survey page (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE, accessed Aug 2026</a>).</p>
<p>Survey R&D follows the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (<strong>OECD</strong>) Frascati Manual idea of creative work undertaken on a systematic basis to increase the stock of knowledge and use that knowledge to devise new applications, covering basic research, applied research, and experimental development (<a href="https://tablebuilder.singstat.gov.sg/table/TS/M084981">SingStat R&D table, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>; <a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE, latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). For this survey, the scope extends to <strong>science and technology R&D only</strong> and <strong>excludes the social sciences and humanities</strong> (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE, latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Headline expenditure measures are <strong>intramural</strong> — R&D performed within the organisation during the reporting period — not every grant paid to another performer (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE, latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>).</p>
<p>Institutional sectors in the survey and redistributed tables are: the <strong>private sector</strong> (business enterprises, excluding institutes of higher learning); the <strong>government sector</strong> (ministries, statutory boards, and public research institutes, excluding institutes of higher learning); and <strong>institutes of higher learning</strong> (including universities and polytechnics) (<a href="https://data.gov.sg/datasets/d_d3b0daf4a0dbbb1a2ada0ae3f8e98029/view">data.gov.sg R&D expenditure dataset, accessed Aug 2026</a>; <a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). GERD is the national sum; BERD is private-sector performance; PUBERD is public-sector performance (government sector plus institutes of higher learning and other publicly funded research organisations as defined in the survey) (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Amounts are in Singapore dollars.</p>
<h2>GERD, BERD, and R&D intensity in 2023</h2>
<p>For <strong>calendar year 2023</strong>, the National Survey of RIE reports Singapore's GERD at <strong>S$13,746.9 million</strong>, up 8.4% from S$12,676.2 million in 2022 (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Using GDP at current market prices of <strong>S$678.7 billion</strong> for 2023 (figures the survey states were extracted from the Singapore Department of Statistics in December 2025), GERD was <strong>2.0% of GDP</strong>, up from 1.8% in 2022 when GDP was S$701.8 billion (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). The intensity rise therefore reflects both higher GERD and a lower GDP denominator in that vintage comparison; always pair the percentage with the reference year and the GDP series used (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>).</p>
<p>Of 2023 GERD, BERD was <strong>S$8,956.0 million</strong> (<strong>1.3% of GDP</strong>) and PUBERD was <strong>S$4,790.9 million</strong> (<strong>0.7% of GDP</strong>) (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). BERD rose 10.2% from S$8,130.1 million in 2022; PUBERD rose 5.4% from S$4,546.1 million (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). The survey states that for every S$1 of public-sector research spending, businesses spent S$1.87 in 2023 (BERD/PUBERD ratio 1.87, up from 1.79 in 2022) (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). From 2013 to 2023, GERD's compound annual growth rate was 6.4%, from a 2013 GERD base of S$7,393.5 million against GDP of S$384.9 billion (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Quote these levels with the <strong>2023</strong> reference year; they are not a 2026 run-rate and are not interchangeable with RIE plan envelopes. Canonical rows for reuse are in <a href="/en/knowledge/dataset/sgkb.data.rd-expenditure-anchors">rd expenditure anchors</a>.</p>
<h2>Business and public R&D performers in the survey</h2>
<p>In 2023, <strong>1,030</strong> private-sector companies reported that they performed R&D in Singapore, accounting for the S$8,956.0 million BERD total (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Within private-sector cost types, capital expenditure rose sharply to S$1,232.8 million in 2023 from S$796.2 million in 2022; manpower expenditure was S$3,874.6 million and other operating expenditure S$3,848.6 million (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). By type of R&D activity in the private sector, experimental development (S$4,346.9 million) remained larger than applied research (S$2,988.5 million) and basic research (S$1,616.9 million) in 2023 (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Electronics was the largest private-sector field in the survey's science-and-technology taxonomy at S$4,878.4 million in 2023, ahead of info-communication and media technology, precision and transport engineering, biomedical sciences, and chemicals (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Sector narratives for manufacturing and biomedical industry strategy belong in <a href="/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.business-industry.electronics-and-semiconductors">electronics and semiconductors</a> and <a href="/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.business-industry.biomedical-and-pharma">biomedical and pharma</a>; those articles do not replace the survey's dated BERD field totals.</p>
<p>On the public side, <strong>60</strong> public institutions — including government agencies, public research institutes, institutes of higher learning, academic medical centres, hospitals, and other publicly funded research organisations — reported PUBERD of S$4,790.9 million in 2023 (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Public manpower expenditure was S$2,675.1 million, other operating expenditure S$1,777.1 million, and capital expenditure S$338.8 million (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Public R&D is not the same as A<em>STAR alone: A</em>STAR institutes are major public performers inside the government/public-research-institute grouping, but PUBERD also includes universities, polytechnics, hospitals, and other agencies (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>; <a href="/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.science-research.astar-and-public-research">astar and public research</a>). Do not treat an A*STAR institute list as a substitute for national GERD or PUBERD.</p>
<h2>R&D manpower and researcher intensity</h2>
<p>R&D manpower in the survey covers persons engaged in R&D as at the last day of the reporting year, including researchers, full-time postgraduate research students, technicians, and support staff (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). In 2023, total R&D manpower was <strong>61,693</strong> persons, up 3.5% from 59,609 in 2022 (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Research Scientists and Engineers (<strong>RSEs</strong>) — university-degree researchers excluding full-time postgraduate research students — numbered <strong>44,368</strong>, or 71.9% of R&D jobs associated with the survey's manpower count (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Total researchers including full-time postgraduate research students were <strong>53,317</strong> in 2023 (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>).</p>
<p>Researcher intensity uses <strong>full-time equivalence</strong> (<strong>FTE</strong>) relative to the labour force. The survey reports Singapore's labour force at 3.94 million in 2023 (up from 3.75 million in 2022) and researcher FTEs at <strong>50,345</strong> (up from 48,599), giving <strong>12.8 researcher FTEs per 1,000 labour-force persons</strong> in 2023 (12.9 in 2022) (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Headcount and FTE answer different questions; do not treat 61,693 persons as identical to 50,345 researcher FTEs (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). Among RSEs in 2023, Singapore citizens and permanent residents numbered 31,674 and foreign (non-PR) RSEs 12,694; female RSEs were 14,222, or 32.1% of all RSEs (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>).</p>
<h2>GERD versus RIE budget envelopes</h2>
<p>National R&D <strong>statistics</strong> and national RIE <strong>budget envelopes</strong> answer different questions. GERD/BERD/PUBERD measure intramural R&D <strong>performed</strong> in Singapore in a past calendar year by surveyed organisations, expressed in Singapore dollars and often as a share of that year's GDP (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). By contrast, Research, Innovation and Enterprise plans are multi-year government funding and priority frameworks set through NRF processes. NRF is a department within the Prime Minister's Office that develops policies, plans, and strategies for research, innovation, and enterprise and funds strategic initiatives (<a href="https://www.nrf.gov.sg/about/about-nrf-singapore/nrf-singapore/">NRF, accessed Aug 2026</a>). At the 5 December 2025 launch of <strong>RIE2030</strong>, the Government announced investment of <strong>S$37 billion</strong> over five years from April 2026 — described as about one per cent of GDP — continuing the sequence of five-year RIE plans (<a href="https://www.pmo.gov.sg/newsroom/sm-lee-hsien-loong-at-the-press-conference-on-the-launch-of-research-innovation-enterprise-2030-plan/">PMO, 5 Dec 2025, accessed Aug 2026</a>).</p>
<p>Those figures are not interchangeable. A five-year RIE envelope is not an annual GERD total; GERD includes private-sector BERD that is not the same thing as government RIE appropriations; and RIE spending is not confined to A*STAR (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>; <a href="https://www.pmo.gov.sg/newsroom/sm-lee-hsien-loong-at-the-press-conference-on-the-launch-of-research-innovation-enterprise-2030-plan/">PMO, 5 Dec 2025, accessed Aug 2026</a>; <a href="/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.science-research.astar-and-public-research">astar and public research</a>). The 2023 survey itself notes the RIE2030 announcement and the S$37 billion commitment for 2026–2030 while still reporting calendar-year 2023 performance statistics (<a href="https://www.a-star.edu.sg/news/national-survey-of-rie">A*STAR National Survey of RIE — latest issue: 2023, accessed 11 Aug 2026</a>). For who performs public research versus who owns national RIE policy, use <a href="/en/knowledge/article/sgkb.science-research.astar-and-public-research">astar and public research</a>; for dated GERD/BERD intensity rows, use <a href="/en/knowledge/dataset/sgkb.data.rd-expenditure-anchors">rd expenditure anchors</a>.</p>