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Business Enterprise Research and Development Scotland 2006

31/01/2008

Scotland's Chief Statistician today released Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Scotland 2006. The publication includes key statistics on research and development (R&D) expenditure in Scotland in 2006.

The main findings are:

• BERD expenditure in Scotland in 2006 was £579 million, 4 per cent of the UK total of £14.3 billion
• Expenditure decreased from £586 million in the previous year (a 4 per cent decrease in real terms), mainly due to a decrease in expenditure on R&D in the services sector
• BERD expenditure was 0.56 per cent of Scottish GDP in 2006, compared to 1.08 per cent for the UK
• Total R&D expenditure in Scotland was £1,582 million in 2005, which is 7 per cent of the UK total and an increase of £162 million since 2004
• Total R&D expenditure was 1.61 per cent of Scottish GDP; this compares to 1.76 per cent for the UK, 1.74 per cent for the EU and 2.25 per cent for the OECD
• Scotland performs very well in terms of R&D spent in the Higher Education sector. In 2005, Higher Education R&D expenditure in Scotland stood at £688 million, 12 per cent of the UK figure and 0.70 per cent of GDP
• Scotland's Higher Education R&D as a percentage of GDP ranked top compared to other regions of the UK, and ranks in the first quartile compared to OECD countries

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff.