Navigation menu for this statistical subject
Mobile Version
YearR&D expenditure (1) (2)
Business sectorHigher education sectorGovernment sectorTotal
(HK$ Mn)(HK$ Mn)(HK$ Mn)(HK$ Mn)Ratio to GDP (%) (3)
2015 7,993.7 9,550.8 726.2 18,270.7 0.76
2016 8,528.1 10,270.9 914.1 19,713.1 0.79
2017 9,412.3 10,837.1 1,031.0 21,280.4 0.80
2018 (4) 10,992.5 12,337.9 * 1,148.0 24,478.4 * 0.86 @
2019 11,616.5 13,432.4 1,283.8 26,332.6 0.92 @
Notes : (1)"R&D activities" refer to creative and systematic work undertaken so as to increase the stock of knowledge for devising new and improved products/processes/applications and improve existing products/processes/applications.
 (2)Reference periods of the R&D statistics presented for different sectors are not the same. For the higher education sector, the R&D expenditure refers to the amount spent on R&D activities between July of a year and June of the following year. As for the business and the government sectors, the reference period for R&D expenditure is basically a calendar year.
 (3)The GDP estimates are based on expenditure-based GDP estimates at current prices released in November 2020.
 (4)Following international guidelines, the estimates of implicit user cost of R&D facilities has been included in the R&D expenditures as from the reference year of 2018. The R&D expenditure figures from 2018 onwards are not directly comparable with those of earlier years. The R&D expenditure for 2017 has also been recompiled according to the enhanced estimation method and was HK$22,213 million with the implicit user cost of R&D facilities included. Please refer to the Annex given in the report "Hong Kong Innovation Activities Statistics 2019" for details.
 (5)Figures of components may not add up to the respective totals owing to rounding.
 *Revised figures.
 @Figures are subject to revision later on.
Source : Science & Technology Statistics Section,
Census and Statistics Department
(Enquiry telephone no. : 3903 7290)


Download longer data series
- Excel format
- CSV format