Wellington, Apr 28 (IANS): New Zealand's total research and development (R&D) expenditure reached more than NZ$5 billion ($3 billion ) in 2022, according to figures released by the statistics department Stats NZ on Friday.

Expenditure on R&D increased by 11 per cent compared with 2020, and by 67 per cent compared with 2016.

This covers the business, government, and higher education sectors, Xinhua news agency quoted Stats NZ as saying.

"Growth in R&D expenditure has been driven by the business sector -- nearly doubling what they spent between 2016 and 2022," said Stats NZ business performance manager Ricky Ho.

R&D expenditure in the business sector grew by NZ$1.5 billion compared with 2016 and accounted for 59 per cent of total R&D expenditure in 2022, Ho said.

The number of businesses reporting R&D expenditure in 2022 was approximately 2,300, which grew by 45 per cent compared with 2016, he said.

The average expenditure per business has increased from NZ$1 million in 2016 to NZ$1.3 million in 2022, he added.

Within the business sector, the scientific research and technical services industry saw the greatest growth between 2016 and 2022, with expenditure increasing from NZ$75 million to NZ$321 million.

This industry contributed 6 per cent to total R&D expenditure in 2022, Ho said.

Expenditure since 2016 also continued to grow in the government (up 37 per cent) and higher education sectors (up 43 per cent), he said.