Business and Enterprise Statistics  Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD): The latest figures show that GERD in Scotland was £1,934 million in 2011, an increase of £22 million (in real terms) since 2010. The increase is calculated on an expenditure of £1,925 million in 2011, which excludes the Private-Non-Profit sector R&D expenditure (£9 million), as the PNP data is currently not available before 2011 for Scotland. The increase in GERD over the latest year is driven by an increase in BERD expenditure: - BERD: £689 million in 2011, an increase of £54 million in real terms since 2010.
- HERD: £953 million in 2011, a decrease of £11 million in real terms since 2010.
- GoveRD: £283 million in 2011, a decrease of £20 million in real terms since 2010.
Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) comprises that undertaken by the Business (BERD), Higher Education (HERD), Government (GoveRD) and Private Non-Profit (PNP) sectors Latest GERD Scotland Publication Business Enterprise Research & Development (BERD): Scotland’s BERD expenditure as a percentage of GDP has historically been low compared to the other 11 regions/countries within the UK as well as internationally. Scotland’s performance on BERD as a percentage of GDP ranks in the bottom quartile of OECD countries that reported in 2011. However, Scotland performs well on Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) with Scotland’s HERD expenditure as a percentage of GDP ranking first compared to the other 11 regions/countries within the UK and in the top quartile of OECD countries. Latest BERD Scotland Publication Businesses in Scotland:  As at March 2012, there were 341,360 private sector enterprises operating in Scotland - the highest estimate since 2000 (the earliest point in the time series). The estimated number of enterprises in Scotland has increased in each year since 2006. Between March 2011 and March 2012 the estimated number of enterprises increased by 9.9% (30,835 enterprises) – this is the highest annual increase in the series back to 2000. Unregistered enterprises (the smallest businesses that have an annual turnover below the VAT threshold of £73,000 and do not have employees) accounted for the majority of the rise in the total number of enterprises between 2011 and 2012. The number of unregistered enterprises increased from 156,155 in 2011 to 181,775 in 2012 – an increase of 25,620 micro businesses (16.4%). After falling for the last two years, the number of registered enterprises (those registered for VAT and/or PAYE) increased by 3.4% (5,215 enterprises) between 2011 and 2012. There are 339,110 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) operating in Scotland, and employing an estimated 1.09 million people. SMEs accounted for 99.3% of all private sector enterprises and accounted for 54.5% of private sector employment and 37.7% of private sector turnover. |