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Research and Development in Hong Kong: The Way Forward

Table 1: Comparing R&D expenditures in different economies

 

Population

(mil)

GDP

(bil US$)

Total GERD

(mil US$)
GERD/GDP

GDP per capita

(in US$)

GERD per capita

(in US$)
Developed economies
USA 307.01 13,938.93 388,896 2.79% 45,402 1,267
Japan 127.56 5,032.98 169,108 3.36% 39,456 1,326
Tech-oriented economies
Switzerland* 7.65 502.45 15,027 2.99% 65,680 1,964
Israel 7.49 195.39 8,706 4.46% 26,087 1,162
Finland 5.34 237.82 9,315 3.92% 44,536 1,744
Four little dragons
Taiwan 23.12 377.81 11,108 2.94% 16,341 480
Korea 48.75 834.06 29,693 3.56% 17,109 609
Singapore 4.99 183.02 4,155 2.27% 36,677 833
Hong Kong 7.00 209.56 1,656 0.79% 29,937 237
Developing economies

Mainland

China
1,331.38 4,984.43 84,933 1.70% 3,744 64
India 1,155.35 1,265.15 10,121 0.80% 1,095 9
*All data reported here are for the year of 2009, except the data for Switzerland, which are for the year of 2008. Sources: World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012, and OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators dataset

Table 2: Comparing government support in non-defense research between Hong Kong & USA (for 2010/2011)

Economy Funding Agency

Annual Budget

(billions of US$)

Annual Budget (billions of HK$

Population

(million)

Expenditure per capita

(HK$)
Hong Kong RGC   0.78 7.10 109.15
USA All Federal agencies (non-defense) 63.950 497.79 312 1595.47
NIH 33.249 258.81 312 829.52
NSF 5.233 40.73 312 130.56

Table 3: The level of decision making on science and technology policy in different governments

Economies Top S&T Office Level of authority
USA Science Advisor (Director of Office of Science and Technology Policy) Directly advising the US President
US Academy of Science Advising the US Congress
National Science and Technology Council Advising the US President
Department of Energy Part of the US Cabinet
Taiwan National Science Council(行政院国家科学委员会) Advising the “Executive Yuan” (行政院)
Academia Sinica(中央研究院) Advising the “President”
Mainland China Ministry of Science and Technology (中国科学技术部) Member of the PRC Cabinet
Chinese Academy of Science / Chinese Academy of Engineering

Directly reporting to the Premier of PRC

(国务院总理)
Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission Under the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, which is under the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Government