Public research, i.e. research primarily funded with public money and carried out by public research institutions (PRIs) and research universities, plays an extremely important role in innovation systems by ensuring the provision of new knowledge. Public-sector research is considerably smaller than business research and development (R&D) in the majority of OECD countries: government intramural expenditure on R&D was on average 0.29% of gross domestic product for the OECD area in 2009, and higher education expenditure on R&D was 0.44% (including a small percentage funded by business), while business expenditure on R&D stood at 1.69%.