Research and Development Services – Evolution and Structure

According to the international methodology and the National Economy Classification of Activities, the research and development domain stands for the systemic and creative activity to increase the entire knowledge level- including humanistic, cultural and social knowledge- as well as its use to new applications. The expenditures for the research and development activity in 2009 were only 0.47% in the Romanian GDP, that is just a very little part as compared with other countries among which: Austria - 2.75%, the Czech Republic -1.53%, Denmark -3.02%, Germany – 2.82%, Hungary – 1.15%, Finland – 3.9%, Sweden- 3.62% etc. The paper focuses on the number and structure of the research and development staff, the main indexes in this specific activity, the total staff structure by unit types, by occupations, age groups, fields of activity. It also analyses specific expenditures by public and private forms of propriety, research types, competence sectors, financing sources, main program types etc.