Gross expenditure on research and development Scotland 2020

Key Findings

Expenditure and components of GERD

In 2020, Scotland’s Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) was estimated at £4,795 million, 7.8% of the total UK GERD (Table 3A). Between 2019 and 2020, Scotland’s GERD increased by an estimated 1.2%, up £58 million, from £4,737 million in 2019. In comparison, UK GERD increased by 3.5% over the same period.   

GERD represented an estimated 3.13% of GDP in Scotland in 2020.  GERD as a share of GDP was 2.96% for the UK as a whole in 2020.

In 2020, GERD per head of population in Scotland was estimated at £877, lower than the average across the UK, which was £921 (Table 2). The East of England, London & South East region had the highest GERD per head at £1,307.

The composition of GERD varies considerably between the UK regions/countries.  In Scotland, Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) spend made up an estimated 61.0% of total GERD, the lowest of the regions in 2020. On the other hand, Higher Education R&D (HERD) spend made up a larger proportion of total GERD (33.8%) in Scotland than in any other region. Scotland also ranked top amongst the countries/regions of the UK for HERD spend as a share of GDP (Table 5B).  

In Scotland, HERD spend was estimated at £1,623 million in 2020, 1.2% higher (£20 million) than it was in 2019. Scottish HERD spend represented 11.7% of the total UK HERD expenditure (Table 5A).

In 2020, Government Expenditure on R&D (GovERD) in Scotland was estimated at £202 million, 9.8% (£18 million) higher than in 2019. GovERD as a share of GDP was 0.13% for Scotland and 0.15% for the UK in 2020.

In Scotland, Private-Non-Profit (PNP) R&D spend was estimated at £43 million in 2020, 5.2% of the UK total and 0.03% of GDP (Table 7A and 7B).

EU and OECD comparisons

Estimated at 3.13%, Scotland’s GERD as a share of GDP was above that of the EU (2.19%) and the OECD (2.67%) in 2020. As a result Scotland’s GERD as a share of GDP ranked in the top quartile of the OECD countries in 2020 (Table 8A). However, it is important to note that GDP was particularly low in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Estimated at 1.91%, Scotland’s BERD spend as a share of GDP ranked in the second quartile of the OECD countries in 2020, above the EU average (1.43%) but below the average for OECD countries (1.92%) and the UK at 2.11% in 2020. (Table 8B).

In 2020, Scotland ranked top among the OECD countries for HERD spend. In 2020, HERD spend as a share of GDP in Scotland was 1.06% compared to 0.43% in the OECD as a whole (Table 8C).

In 2020, Scotland ranked in the third quartile for GovERD as share of GDP (0.13%), lower the EU and OECD averages (0.26%) (Table 8D).