In 2021

Enterprises accounted once again for the largest share of Research and Development (R&D) expenditure in the Autonomous Region of Madeira  

In 2021, the enterprises accounted once again for the largest share of Research and Development (R&D) expenditure in the Autonomous Region of Madeira

In 2021, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM), the share of expenditure on research and development (R&D) as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 0.46%, which is 0.06 percentage points (pp) lower than in 2020, when this indicator stood at 0.52%. The regions of Norte (1.97%) and Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (1.96%) demonstrated the best performance in this indicator, substantially above the national average (1.68%). The regions of the Autonomous Region of Azores (0.41%), ARM (0.46%), and Algarve (0.48%) fell significantly below the national average but were relatively close to each other. The reduction in the ratio observed in the ARM resulted from two factors: a slight decrease in R&D expenditure(numerator) and a substantial increase in nominal GDP (denominator), which recovered strongly, albeit only partially, in the second year of the pandemic. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the proportion of R&D expenditure to GDP observed in 2021 was only exceeded by the value of 2020.

In 2021, the ratio of personnel (full-time equivalent) engaged in R&D in the active population in the ARM was 4.2 per thousand persons, representing a slight increase compared to the previous year (4.1). Meanwhile, the ratio for researchers was 0.32%.

In 2021, the ARM counted 66 research units (5 fewer than in 2020), employing 541 full-time equivalent persons, which is 17 fewer than the previous year. The majority of these employees were in Enterprises (36.4%), followed by Tertiary Education (34.7%), the Government (28.7%), which includes Regional Public Administration and Local Government, and lastly, Non-Profit Private Institutions (0.2%).

The R&D expenditure in 2021 amounted to approximately 22.6 million euros, a decrease of 1.5% compared to the previous year (22.9 million euros). In the reference year, Enterprises led R&D activities in the ARM in terms of expenditure, accounting for 45.9% of the expenses in that regard, followed by Tertiary Education (27.0%), the Government (26.8%), and Non-Profit Institutions (0.3%). It is worth noting that, for the third consecutive year and since the beginning of the time series, enterprises have been concentrating the largest share of R&D expenditure, a position previously held by Tertiary Education (between 2003 and 2018).

Throughout the years of available data, the Government has consistently been the main funder of R&D expenditure in ARM, accounting for 49.8% of the total in 2021, followed by enterprises with 39.0%. The Government funding amounted to 11.2 million euros, which is an increase of 0.7% compared to 2020.

In 2021, the scientific or technological field with the highest R&D expenditure in the ARM was engineering and technology science, marking the third consecutive year in this regard. Between 2011 and 2019, social sciences, humanities, and arts consistently stood out compared to other fields, which did not occur in the reference year. In 2021, R&D expenditure in the field of engineering and technology science amounted to 2.9 million euros, followed by social sciences, humanities, and arts with 2.8 million euros, and natural sciences with 2.5 million euros. It is also worth noting that the first field saw a decrease of 9.4% compared to 2020, while the latter two grew by 2.2% and 0.2%, respectively.

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