Business enterprise research and development: 2017

Business Enterprise Research and Development 2017 - Key Facts

• BERD expenditure in Scotland in 2017 was £1.247 billion, this is the highest figure since the start of the series in 2001. Scottish BERD expenditure represented 5.3% of the UK total of £23.7 billion in 2017.
• Between 2016 and 2017, Scottish BERD expenditure increased by 13.9% in real terms; UK expenditure increased by 2.9% in real terms over this period. 
• Between 2007 and 2017, Scottish BERD expenditure increased by 93.6% in real terms; UK expenditure increased by 27.2% over this period.
• BERD expenditure was 0.80% of Scottish GDP in 2017, the comparable figure was 1.15% for the UK in 2017.
• In 2017, BERD expenditure in Scotland was predominantly split between Manufacturing products (£594 million or 47.6%), and Services products (£560 million or 44.9%), with ‘Other’ product groups (£94 million), such as ‘Extractive Industries’, comprising the remaining 7.5%.
• BERD expenditure on Services products increased by 47.4% (+£180 million) in real terms between 2016 and 2017, whereas expenditure on Manufacturing products decreased by 1.2% (-£7.4 million) and expenditure on ‘Other’ products decreased by 17.6% (-£20.1 million).
• Businesses in Scotland employed 13,178 R&D staff in 2017, up from 12,547 in 2016, an increase of 5.0%.  BERD employment is now at its highest level since the series began in 2001, when R&D employment stood at 7,210.