RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has significantly increased its research and development (R&D) spending to SR22.61 billion ($6.02 billion) in 2023, reflecting a 17.4 percent rise from the previous year, according to official data.

The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) reported a surge in R&D personnel, with the workforce expanding to 49,337 by the end of 2023, marking a 12.2 percent year-on-year increase. Researchers made up 36,832 of this total, representing a 22.1 percent annual growth.

The Kingdom is emphasizing R&D across sectors such as energy, technology, and sustainability as part of its Vision 2030 strategy to diversify its oil-dependent economy.

"The distribution of R&D employees across various sectors shows that higher education had the highest number of employees at 37,540, constituting 76.1 percent. The private sector followed with 8,810 employees, accounting for 17.9 percent, and the government sector had 2,987 employees, representing 6.1 percent," GASTAT noted.

GASTAT also disclosed 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 dominated with SR12.12 billion in 2023, making up 53.6 percent of the total. The private sector contributed SR9.31 billion, while the higher education sector received SR1.17 billion.

Regarding 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, Saudi Aramco, the energy giant, announced a $100 million commitment to fund R&D at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology over the next decade.

This partnership aims to drive innovation in Saudi Arabia and create commercially viable solutions that support global energy transition and sustainability objectives, according to a press release.

The agreement will concentrate on areas such as energy transition, sustainability, materials science, upstream technologies, and digital solutions.

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