There has been a £2 billion rise in UK companies' R&D investment according to figures published today in the DTI's 2006 R&D Scoreboard.
R&D investment is £19.2 billion compared to £17 billion reported in the 2005 Scoreboard. Around two thirds of this substantial increase is due to companies in sectors such as banks, insurance, media and retail disclosing R&D for the first time. The remaining third reflects a four per cent increase in R&D by the top 800 UK companies compared with the previous year.
The UK's top R&D companies are keeping pace with their US counterparts in the world's top 1250 R&D companies, with both showing an 8 per cent rise in R&D compared with the previous year.
The Scoreboard also shows UK companies' continuing strength in aerospace and pharmaceuticals and reflects a growing software sector - aerospace R&D is up 21 per cent and software up 13 per cent.
Science and Innovation Minister Lord Sainsbury said:
"This year's Scoreboard confirms again that R&D plays a key part in business success, and demonstrates the ever-widening relevance of innovation, and the R&D that goes into its creation, for companies large and small.
"The UK is an attractive location for R&D activities and companies are increasingly recognising the benefits of the UK as a productive environment for R&D investment.
"Global competition remains strong and the Government is committed to making the UK one of the best places in the world for science and innovation."
The R&D Scoreboard is the premier source of information on business R&D in the UK and globally, looking at data for the top 1250 global R&D investing companies (which includes 72 from the UK) and the top 800 from the UK. It shows that:
- The top ten foreign-owned UK companies account for just over half of the £4.4 billion of R&D performed by foreign-owned UK companies. Eight of these 10 have higher R&D intensities than their overseas parents and this emphasises the attractions of the UK as a location for R&D;
- UK R&D is particularly strong in pharmaceuticals (£6.8 billion of R&D) and aerospace and contains a growing software sector (119 companies in 2006); and,
- Smaller UK companies are increasing their R&D as well as larger ones: this year, 88 more companies reported over £0.5 million of R&D. The proportion of UK companies with R&D above £2.9m and with high R&D intensity (over 10 per cent) is rising and is significantly above that of the rest of the EU although still below the USA.
Notes to editors:
- The R&D Scoreboard is produced annually by the DTI's Business Finance & Investment Unit. This is the 16th edition.
- The R&D Scoreboard is an international league table of R&D active companies. Designed primarily as a benchmarking tool for use by companies, investors and policy makers. It is endorsed by 16 leading business and technical organisations including the CBI, EEF, IoD and Royal Society.
- The Scoreboard contains details of the R&D and Capex investments, sales, profits, employees, growth rates, market capitalisation and key ratios for the top 1250 international companies (R&D over £19.2 million) and the top 800 UK R&D-active companies (R&D over £0.37 million). All data is extracted directly from company annual reports. Each company is classified by ICB sectors (used by the FTSE and Dow Jones) and key ratios are calculated for each company and sector.
- Government has achieved macroeconomic stability, greatly increased funding for the science base, R&D tax credits for companies of all sizes and established the DTI Technology Programme. The government has also agreed further real terms increases in funding for the science base 2005-08
- The Scoreboard covers company-funded R&D only. It does not include publicly funded R&D.
- Free copies of the publication can be obtained by the following means: Website - http://www.innovation.gov.uk/finance
* Via email from publications@dti.gsi.gov.uk