In 2022 Research and Development (R&D) expenditure in Greece amounted to 3,070.30 million euros, with businesses contributing 1,505.49 million euros (49%), according to final data published by the National Center for Documentation and Electronics Content (EKT) and have been sent to Eurostat.

The total expenditure incurred for Research and Development in Greece was increased by 424.35 million euros compared to 2021 (16% increase). Combined with the 13.8% increase in GDP in Greece in 2022, the “R&D Intensity” index, which expresses Research and Development expenditure as a percentage of GDP, reached 1.49%, from 1.46% in 2021. At the European level, Greece is in 13th place among EU countries in terms of R&D Intensity.

At the same time, the number of staff employed in Research and Development activities, expressed in Full Employment Equivalent (FTE) yielding full-time jobs, increased to 69,307 FTE for total R&D staff from 61,702 FTE in 2021 (12.3% growth rate ) and to 51,611 FTE for research staff from 45,345 FTE in 2021 (a growth rate of 13.8%).

The participation of the business sector in the total Research and Development expenditure was 49% (1,505.49 million euros), continuing the upward trend of recent years. The participation of the branches of economic activity “Information & Communication” (325.21 million euros), “Professional, scientific and technical activities” (193.94 million euros) and “Production of basic pharmaceutical products & pharmaceutical preparations” (161.01 million euros). The R&D expenditure concerning the overall sector of the Information & Communication Sector, as constituted by individual sectors of Manufacturing and Services, amounted to 391.54 million euros, showing an increase of 27.4%.

The second sector, in descending order of R&D spending, was the Higher Education sector, which includes universities, research university institutes and university hospitals. In 2022 the expenditure of the sector amounted to 906.27 million euros (29.5% of the total R&D expenditure in Greece). The R&D activities, in accordance with the international practices for the specific sector, focused on the implementation of basic research (492.74 million euros) and applied research (338.94 million euros). The scientific fields with the largest expenditures were “Medicine and Health Sciences” (245.48 million euros), “Engineering Sciences & Technology” (197.07 million euros) and “Social Sciences” (194.81 million euros). .

The Higher Education sector gathers the most employment positions in R&D, which in 2022 was a total of 32,348 FTEs (46.7% of the total), of which 26,655 FTEs related to research positions.

Government sector expenditure in 2022 amounted to 641.25 million euros (20.9% of total R&D expenditure in Greece). The state sector includes bodies supervised by various ministries such as research centers supervised by the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation, public research bodies supervised by other ministries, Ephorates of Antiquities, New Monuments Services, public museums, public hospitals , the agencies, departments and hospitals of the Ministry of National Defense. Overall, public sector R&D activities for 2022 involved both basic and applied research, with expenditures of €262.06 and €256.93 million, respectively. The main scientific fields in which state bodies conducted R&D in 2022 were “Medicine and Health Sciences” (€196.71 million), “Engineering Sciences & Technology” (€149.62 million) and “Humanities & Arts » (135.55 million euros).

Finally, in the sector of private non-profit institutions, R&D expenditures of 17.29 million euros were made.