UNESCO’s data reveals the main driver behind Slovenia’s exporting success: few countries invest a higher share of their GDP into research and development. And most of these funds are invested by businesses rather than by state institutions and universities.
The latest UNESCO data on R&D in countries published this summer puts Slovenia close to the top of the list. Slovenia spends 2.4 percent of its GDP (adjusted for purchasing power parity) on research and development – it is the world’s 11th highest share and it puts the young nation just behind countries like Germany (2.9%) and the USA (2.7%). In absolute terms Slovenia spends 1.5 billion US dollars (1.3 billion euros) per annum on R&D. Most of this sum comes from private sector: the industry and other commercial businesses account for 77.3 percent of R&D spending with almost 1.2 billion dollars. This percentage is higher than in most of European countries and comparable to world leading research nations: South Korea, Israel and Japan. »Strong spending by the business sector is an underlying factor for success,” comment UNESCO’s analysts.
Slovenia also ranks high in the number of scientists and experts involved in research activities. 4,140 researchers per million people puts Slovenia on 13th place and ahead of Japan and the UK. This probably the main driver of Slovenia’s success in exports: savvy foreign investors like Novartis clearly understand this comparative advantage and invest in research facilities in Slovenia as much as in production. Another interesting phenomenon discovered by UNESCO’s data is a relatively high percentage of women researchers. In Slovenia 36 percent of the researchers are women – while still not the ideal one half, in most other developed economies the percentage of women researchers is even lower. In Europe it is usually between 30 and 25 percent. In Asia it is around 20 percent (Japan) or lower.
