Spotlight
Business enterprise research and development, UK: 2021
What's in the bulletin?
- Expenditure on research and development (R&D) performed by UK businesses (in current prices) was £48.7 billion in 2021, an increase of £4.2 billion since 2020 and £7.7 billion since 2018, which is the first data period produced using improved methodology.
- The methodology used to produce estimates of R&D performed by UK businesses has been improved to better represent smaller businesses.
- Values of expenditure on R&D performed by UK businesses in 2018, 2019 and 2020 were £15.8 billion, £16.1 billion, and £17.5 billion higher than previously published.
Datasets related to Business innovation
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Foreign direct investment involving UK companies (directional): inward
Annual statistics on the investment of foreign companies into the UK, including for investment flows, positions and earnings.
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Foreign direct investment involving UK companies (directional): outward
Annual statistics on the investment of UK companies abroad, including for investment flows, positions and earnings.
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Gross domestic expenditure on research and development time series
Annual estimates of national research and development (R&D) spending in the UK from the public and private sectors: business enterprise, government, higher education and private non-profit organisations.
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Business investment time series
Detailed breakdown of business investment by industry and asset, in current prices, chained volume measures, non-seasonally adjusted and seasonally adjusted.
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Business enterprise research and development, UK (designated as national statistics)
UK estimates of annual research and development (R&D) spending by UK businesses.
Publications related to Business innovation
Statistical bulletins
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Business enterprise research and development, UK: 2021
Spending and numbers employed on research and development by businesses in the UK, including data on sources of funds and regional spread.
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Foreign direct investment involving UK companies: 2021
Investment of UK companies abroad (outward) and foreign companies into the UK (inward), including investment flows, positions and earnings, by country, component and industry.
Articles
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Foreign direct investment, UK-resident special purpose entities
Experimental statistics estimating the foreign direct investment associated with special purpose entities (SPEs) in the UK in 2020 and 2021.
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Developing foreign direct investment statistics
An overview of our progress on the development of foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics since 2019, and our plans for the next phase of development.