Business Enterprise Research and Development 2016

Scotland’s Business Enterprise Research and Development spend up 10.1 per cent over the latest year.

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today released Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Scotland 2016.

The main findings are:

BERD expenditure in Scotland in 2016 was £1.072 billion, this is the highest figure since the start of the series in 2001 and represents 4.8 per cent of the UK total of £22.2 billion.

Scottish expenditure increased by 10.1 per cent in real terms compared to 2015 figures. UK expenditure increased by 3.3 per cent in real terms over this period.

BERD expenditure was 0.72 per cent of Scottish GDP in 2016, the comparable figure was 1.12 per cent for the UK.

BERD expenditure in Scotland is dominated by Manufacturing (£592 million), followed by Services (£366 million) and then ‘Other’ industry product groups (£114 million). The ‘Other’ group includes extractive industries. 

Manufacturing R&D spend increased by 12.4 per cent (+£65 million) in real terms between 2015 and 2016; expenditure on Services R&D decreased by 0.8% (-£3.1 million) and expenditure on R&D for the ‘Other’ group increased by 45.9% (+£36 million).

Enterprises in Scotland employed 11,943 R&D staff in 2016, up from 11,864 in 2015, an increase of 0.7 per cent. This is the highest level of R&D employment since the series began in 2001, when R&D employment stood at 7,210.

In 2016, around two thirds (62.5 per cent) of BERD expenditure was undertaken by businesses located in just four local authority areas: City of Edinburgh (26.6 per cent), Aberdeen City (15.4 per cent), West Lothian (10.3 per cent) and Glasgow City (10.2 per cent).

Background

The full statistical publication is available at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/RD

This publication presents the most recent data for BERD 2016 – and revised data for 2014 and 2015. Statistics are provided by product group, business size, local authority area, source of funding, country of ownership and industry sector.

Further information on Business and Enterprise statistics within Scotland can be accessed at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business

Official statistics are produced in accordance with professional standards – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be accessed at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/About