MASTIC

Malaysia’s GERD has increased since 2008. From RM6,071 million in 2008, expenditure on R&D increased gradually up to RM17,685 million in 2016. GERD in 2016 is three times than that in 2008. However, GERD has decreased in 2018, from RM17,685 million in 2016 to RM15,060 million in 2018. Nevertheless, it is still recorded as the second highest GERD to date.

The figure show that the Business Enterprise (BE) sector has remained as the largest contributor to spur of R&D activities in Malaysia until 2018. The Business Enterprise (BE) sector is major exploiter on that year (RM6,614 million, 43.9%). The second major contributer in R&D is Higher Learning Institution (HLI), with the value of RM6,412 million (42.6%). Vice versa, the minor contributer goes to Government Research Institutes (GRI) RM2,019 million (13.4%) and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) RM15 million (0.1%).

The largest proportion of the R&D labour force are researchers, followed by support staff and technicians. After almost doubling its share (28.5 to 55.4) between 2008 and 2010, the R&D personnel and researchers per 10,000 labour force has steadily increased to 74 in 2016 but drop to 59 in 2018.