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Homepage Research & development

1	Introduction

2	Government expenditure on SET

3	Government expenditure on R&D

4	Business Enterprise R&D (BERD)

5	The science and engineering base

6	Gross domestic expenditure on R&D

7	International comparisons

8	Science & engineering personnel


>	Recent updates
>	Index of figures & tables
>	Background information
>	References
>	Abbreviations

>	Contacts
>	Links
>	Help

1 Introduction

'SET Statistics' is a summary of key science, engineering and technology indicators and is prepared in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics.

It aims to:

provide a historical analysis of the Government financing of Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) activities in the UK;
describe the relationship between the funders and performers of Research and Development (R&D) in the UK (Government, higher education, business enterprise, charities and overseas);
report on business enterprise R&D expenditure;
summarise key data on output and employment of science graduates and postgraduates, and other employment data; and
show how the UK compares with other G7 countries.

'SET Statistics' covers science, engineering and technology outturn expenditure (including humanities R&D) and employment statistics from 1994-95 up to and including 2003-04. Estimated outturn data are included for 2004-05. In some tables, the plan figures for 2005-06 to 2006-07 are provided which, although less reliable than the outturn figures, are included to indicate SET expenditure trends up to the end of the period covered by the last spending review, SR 2004.

Downloadable tables provide statistics from 1986.

A description of departmental R&D plans can be found in the Forward Look of Government R&D.

Further information about the statistics and their derivation are given in notes attached to the tables or in the References.

Relative International Performance of the UK Research Base

The Prime Minister in his 2002 speech to the Royal Society, “Science Matters”, highlighted the importance of maintaining and improving the UK’s relative international performance in scientific research. This is reflected in the Department of Trade and Industry's PSA target: “to improve the relative international performance of the UK’s science and engineering base”.