Research and development expenditure by the UK government 2018

Product Description

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).

Main points

The UK government's net expenditure on research and development (R&D) grew by £0.7 billion to £12.6 billion in 2018, an increase of 5.7%; this followed a similar growth of 5.9% in 2017.
• Total net expenditure on R&D and knowledge transfer activities reached £12.9 billion in 2018 and represented 0.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), unchanged since 2017.
• UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which includes the UK's seven research councils, contributed the most to net expenditure on R&D and knowledge transfer activities in 2018, at £4.9 billion, 38% of the total.
• In constant prices (adjusted for inflation), civil net expenditure on R&D and knowledge transfer activities (excluding EU R&D budget contributions) increased by 21.0% to £10.4 billion in 2018, up from £8.6 billion in 2007.
• Historically, civil departmental R&D has been concentrated in a small number of departments, with the top three spending 82% of the total in 2018, following a similar pattern to recent years.
• Since 2007, defence net expenditure on R&D decreased by 36.6% in constant prices to £1.6 billion in 2018.
• In 2018 UK government departments' net expenditure on R&D into health accounted for 22% of the total and has remained at a similar proportion over the last decade.
• UK contributions to EU R&D expenditure fell to £873 million in 2018, from a peak of £979 million in 2017; this was still nearly double the value of £454 million in constant prices in 2007.