(7 Apr 2022) An analysis by the OECD shows governments have shrunk their budgets for research in 2021, one year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to boost public expenditure on science.
After a significant 15% growth in real terms in 2020, which was largely focused on health, government R&D budgets for the entire OECD area are estimated to have decreased by 4.4% in 2021 compared to 2020.
The OECD says the decline is not large enough to offset the gains in 2020, but it signals a retrenchment in government spending on research just as business R&D appears to be recovering.
The full report from OECD can be downloaded here.
Source: Science | Business
