Innovation UK > News > Innovation News > Companies increase R&D spend

The UK?s top 1000 companies invested more than £26bn on developing new products and services, and improving productivity, according to the latest R& D scoreboard.

The Scoreboard ? an annual investigation of the top 1,000 UK and top 1,000 global corporate investors in R&D ? showed spend by the UK companies listed increased by 9.2% in 2008, compared with 2007.

The increase was largely due to firms in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, aerospace and defence, software and computer services and banking sectors.

Key facts from the latest Scoreboard include:

  - 81% of UK R&D carried out by the 1,000 top R& D investing companies, was conducted by just one hundred of these companies, and is dominated by the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector.

  - Globally, the 1,000 companies most active in R& D invested £396bn in 2008, an increase of 7% on the previous year. The 46 UK companies in this group increased their R&D spend at a faster rate (11.1%).

  - 80% of investment in R&D by the global 1,000 companies occurs in five countries: the US, Japan, Germany, France and the UK.

  - Global R&D intensity (R& D expenditure as a proportion of sales) stood at 3.4%. Among the UK?s 1,000 leading companies, R&D intensity stood at only 1.6% and at 1.5% for the 46 UK companies listed in the Global 1000.

  - Ranked by their value-added contribution, the top 50 UK R&D companies contributed some £385bn to the broader economies in which they operate. Three fifths of this amount derived from just ten companies. With the exception of the banks, all increased their value-added contributions compared with the previous year.

The current data highlights spending on R&D in 2008 ? before the worst of the global economic downturn ? but it remains an important data source for tracking commercial investment over time.

Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson said: ?Since 2000, we?ve provided almost £3.9bn to innovative companies through R&D tax credits. The UK Innovation Investment fund is about to invest £325m in promising technology firms. The Government?s commitment to support companies with high-growth potential is clear.?