The Singapore government spent S$2.5 billion on R&D in 2010, a 9.6 per cent increase on the previous year, according to the latest national survey of R&D published on 27 December.
The figures also show that private sector expenditure on research and development increased from S$3.7bn in 2009 to S$3.9bn last year.
More than 1,000 organisations participated in the 2010 survey, including companies, government bodies, higher education institutions and public sector research institutes.
The number of foreign scientists working in the country grew more than 30 per cent during the year.
Progress was made in closing the gender gap in academia. The number of female research scientists and engineers increased 10 per cent between 2009 and 2010, bringing the total of women in these positions to 27.4 per cent of the total in the sector in 2010.
The increase in R&D investments was a result of the government’s commitment to make Singapore the “innovation capital of Asia”, the report said. The government had pledged S$13.5bn towards science over the five-year period 2006-2010.