South African National Survey of Research and Experimental Development sector results and trends: busines sector R&D at a glance 2020/21. Fact sheet 43

Business in South Africa is a core driver of the economy and an important partner in achieving the country's development goals. Business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) is the gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) incurred by enterprises. This fact sheet shows that BERD decreased every year from 2017/18. The business sector devoted the largest share of its R&D expenditure to the natural sciences, technology, and engineering fields (94.9%). A higher proportion of business R&D spend was devoted to applied research in comparison to basic and experimental research. Experimental research is considered most likely to lead to innovative products.