South African National Survey of Research and Experimental Development sector results and trends: government sector R&D at a glance 2020/21. Fact sheet 44

In 2020/21 government institutions spent R2.238 billion on R&D in South Africa. The majority of this R&D was in applied research to address the developmental challenges in the country. Agricultural science was the dominant research field, but government continued to intensify research in environment-related policy priority areas. Investment in medical and health sciences R&D almost doubled in 2020/21, possibly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.