RIYADH: Saudi Arabia ramped up its research and development spending to SR22.61 billion ($6.02 billion) in 2023, marking a 17.4 percent increase from the previous year, according to official data.
The General Authority for Statistics reported a rise in R&D personnel, with the workforce reaching 49,337 by the end of 2023, up 12.2 percent year on year. Researchers accounted for 36,832 of this figure, representing a 22.1 percent annual growth.
The Kingdom is prioritizing R&D across sectors like energy, technology, and sustainability as part of its Vision 2030 strategy to diversify its oil-dependent economy.
“The percentage distribution of employees in the field of R&D at the level of different sectors indicates that the number of employees in higher education reached 37,540 employees, representing 76.1 percent, followed by the private sector, with 8,810 employees, at 17.9 percent, then the government sector, with 2,987 employees. at 6.1 percent,” GASTAT noted.
The authority also revealed that Saudi Arabia had 32,209 researchers in higher education by the end of 2023. The private and government sectors employed 2,790 and 1,883 researchers, respectively.
In terms of funding, the government sector accounted for the largest share of R&D spending at SR12.12 billion in 2023, representing 53.6 percent of the total. The private sector contributed SR9.31 billion, while the higher education sector received SR1.17 billion.
When it comes to expenditure, the private sector led with SR8.70 billion spent on R&D, followed by the government sector at SR8.66 billion and the higher education sector at SR5.24 billion.
In August, energy giant Saudi Aramco announced a $100 million commitment to fund research and development at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology over the next decade.
The partnership aims to accelerate innovation in Saudi Arabia and develop commercially viable solutions that support the global energy transition and sustainability goals, according to a press statement.
The agreement will focus on areas including energy transition, sustainability, materials science, upstream technologies, and digital solutions.
