Gross expenditure on research and development Scotland 2022

This publication presents estimates of expenditure on research and development (R&D) performed in Scotland in 2022. It covers R&D in the business, higher education, government and private non-profit sectors. Comparisons with the UK and other countries are included.

Key Points

• Gross Expenditure on Research & Development (GERD) performed in Scotland was estimated at £4.9 billion in 2022; this is 6.9% of the UK total spend
• in 2022, the business sector was the largest component of R&D spend, at £2.7 billion (56.1% of Scotland’s GERD); this was followed by the higher education sector at £1.9 billion (38.3% of Scotland’s GERD)
• estimated at 2.58%, Scotland’s GERD as a share of GDP ranked in the second quartile of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in 2022, above the EU (2.11%) but below the OECD (2.73%) and UK (2.77%)
• estimated at 1.45%, Scotland’s Business Enterprise R&D expenditure as a share of GDP ranked in the second quartile of the OECD countries in 2022, above the EU (1.39%) but below the UK (1.96%) and OECD (2.01%)
• estimated at 0.99%, Scotland’s Higher Education R&D expenditure as a share of GDP ranked in the top quartile of the OECD countries in 2022, above the OECD (0.43%), EU (0.46%) and UK (0.64%)