The private sector makes up the bulk - about two thirds - of the total R&D spending here.

Total R&D spending hit a record high of $6 billion last year, up more than 25 per cent from $5 billion in 2006. This made up a record high of 2.6 per cent of the gross domestic product.

Within the manufacturing sector, the electronics sector was the largest source of growth. It upped its R&D spending by 61 per cent from $1.3 billion in 2006 to $2 billion last year.

The number of researchers working in Singapore also grew by 9 per cent from 25,033 in 2006 to 27,301 last year, with the private sector employing 59 per cent of all researchers.

The annual survey is conducted by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), which released the full survey Tuesday.

For this survey, it covered 1,000 public organisations and private companies.

Highlights of the survey had earlier been released in October.