Gross Expenditure on Research and Development

Further information on data sources, suitability and uses can be found here.

Not assessed

Data can be used to look at trends over time. For comparisons with other UK regions and EU and OECD countries, please see the GERD Scotland 2021 publication.

This dataset is normally updated annually, however we have put a pause on the updating of this series until more work can be carried out to quality assure the underlying source data.

GERD is the measure most commonly used for international comparisons of R&D activity. It covers all R&D performed in the country concerned, irrespective of who pays for it, including funding from abroad. However, it excludes R&D performed abroad even if it is funded from the UK. More information is available from the ONS GERD 2021 publication.

Scotland's Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) is taken from the annual Scottish Government (SG) GERD publication. GERD includes R&D undertaken by business enterprise (BERD). The Office for National Statistics (ONS) are leading a large-scale project to transform R&D statistics, which is still in progress. This includes an improved methodology for the estimation of BERD spend, which better accounts for small businesses. Further information on this was published by the ONS on 29 September 2022: Comparison of ONS BERD with HMRC R&D tax credit statistics and 22 November 2022: Options for Transformation of BERD Statistics.

Due to these methodological changes, there is currently uncertainty over the robustness of the detailed breakdowns of the new BERD estimates, which includes the data for Scotland. More work is underway to further improve how the BERD statistics are compiled in the future, including the development of new sampling methods. The ONS have put a temporary pause on the National Statistics status of the detailed breakdowns of BERD until the methodological work is complete and there is more certainty on the quality of the sub-UK BERD data, and hence sub-UK GERD data. The National Statistics status of the Scottish Government (SG) GERD publication has similarly been put on pause. More detail is available in the GERD Scotland 2020 publication, in the GERD Scotland 2021 publication, and in the latest ONS GERD UK publication.

Gross Expenditure on Research and Development is an Official Statistics publication. It has been produced to the high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008 .

Revisions and corrections to this publication are dealt with in accordance with the Scottish Government's published policy.

This dataset does not contain any sensitive or personal information.