Gross Expenditure on Research and Development 2017

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today released Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) Scotland 2017.

The main findings are:

GERD in Scotland was £2,529 million in 2017. In real terms this represents an increase of £193 million or 8.3 per cent since 2016, taking GERD spend to its highest level in the series.

In 2017, Scotland’s GERD represented 1.63 per cent of GDP, up from 1.53 per cent in 2016.

Most of the growth in Scotland’s GERD over the latest year was in businesses.

Business Enterprise performed R&D (BERD) spend was £1,247 million in Scotland in 2017 – up £152 million or 13.9 per cent in real terms between 2016 and 2017.

Higher Education performed R&D (HERD) spend was £1,072 million in Scotland in 2017 – up £31 million or 2.9 per cent in real terms between 2016 and 2017.

Government performed R&D (GoveRD) spend was £171 million in Scotland in 2017 – up £6 million or 3.6 per cent in real terms between 2016 and 2017.

Private-Non-Profit performed R&D (PNP) spend was £39 million in Scotland in 2017 – up £5 million or 16.0 per cent in real terms between 2016 and 2017.    

The figures released today were produced in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Background

The full statistical publication

This publication contains the most recent data for Gross Expenditure R&D (GERD) in 2017, and revised data for previous years.

GERD as a share of GDP forms the basis of the National Indicator: Spend on research and development. This indicator is monitored on the National Performance Framework website.

Further information on Business statistics within Scotland.

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information.