Spotlight
Total GERD by sector of Performance: Government
£ 1,498 m
2018
- Release date:
- 2 April 2020
- Next release:
- 13 March 2021

Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, UK: 2018
What's in the bulletin?
- Research and development (R&D) expenditure rose by £2.3 billion to £37.1 billion in 2018; this is an increase of 6.6%, which was larger than the 4.8% growth in 2017 and the largest annual rise since 2013.
- Total R&D expenditure in the UK in 2018 represented 1.71% of gross domestic product (GDP); this is up from 1.67% in 2017, but it remains below the EU (EU-28) provisional estimate of 2.12%.
- Funding of UK R&D from overseas increased by 1.4% to £5.1 billion in 2018 compared with 2017, but this was 8.4% lower than the peak in 2014 of £5.5 billion.
Time series related to Research and development expenditure
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£ 1,498 m 2018
- Release date:
- 2 April 2020
- Next release:
- 13 March 2021
-
£ 37,072 m 2018
- Release date:
- 2 April 2020
- Next release:
- 13 March 2021
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£ 962 m 2018
- Release date:
- 2 April 2020
- Next release:
- 13 March 2021
-
£ 25,048 m 2018
- Release date:
- 2 April 2020
- Next release:
- 13 March 2021
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£ 8,740 m 2018
- Release date:
- 2 April 2020
- Next release:
- 13 March 2021
-
£ 823 m 2018
- Release date:
- 2 April 2020
- Next release:
- 13 March 2021
Datasets related to Research and development expenditure
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Business enterprise research and development
Annual research and development spending and employment by UK businesses, including data by industry type, civil and defence, and regional spread.
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Business enterprise research and development time series
Annual breakdown of research and development spending and employment by UK businesses across different market sectors.
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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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Research and development expenditure by the UK government
Annual net expenditure by UK government departments, research councils and higher education funding councils on research and development (R&D) and knowledge transfer activities; by current and constant prices (formerly referred to as science, engineering and technology (SET).
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Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, UK
Annual estimates of research and development in the UK performed and funded by business enterprise, higher education, government, UK Research and Innovation, and private non-profit organisations.
Publications related to Research and development expenditure
Statistical bulletins
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Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, UK: 2018
Annual estimates of research and development performed and funded by business enterprise, higher education, government, UK Research and Innovation, and private non-profit organisations.
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Business enterprise research and development, UK: 2019
Spending and numbers employed on research and development in the UK, broken down by product sector and civil and defence work.
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Research and development expenditure by the UK government: 2018
Research and development and related expenditure by UK government departments, research councils and higher education funding councils. Formerly released as UK government expenditure on science, engineering and technology (SET).
Methodology related to Research and development expenditure
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