Jerusalem

A recalculation of Israel's spending on research and development (R&D) shows that it spends 3.5 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on civilian research — more than any other OECD country. The figures are the first in Israel to include accurate data on spending by small software companies in Israel.

The new picture comes from a survey carried out by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. Previous assessments had placed this figure at just under 3 per cent of GDP (military R&D figures remain classified). Such estimates for high-tech R&D spending were based primarily on information from large companies, explains Simcha Bar-Eliezer, the statistician responsible for the survey.

Shlomo Herskovic, the director of planning and information for the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education, which oversees and allocates the country's higher-education budget, says the new figures change the overall picture of Israel's spending on research.

The survey shows that 21 per cent of the country's civilian research spending is at the universities. Herskovic says the data could be used to argue that the universities should get more research funds. Given the extra spending in software companies, the government is now responsible for only 8 per cent of civilian research expenditure.

The high level of research spending in the software sector could also have implications for computer science programmes at universities. Even current plans to increase the number of computer science graduates by a factor of five over the next three years may be inadequate to supply software firms with the professionals they need, says Herskovic.