UK R&D Scoreboard and EU Innovation Scoreboards published

The 2008 DIUS R&D Scoreboard, which is endorsed by the R&D Society, published on 26 January 2009, reports on the patterns and trends of the 850 largest corporate spenders of R&D in the UK and the 1,400 companies in the world most active in R&D, based on R&D expenditure reported in company accounts.

The Scoreboard reports that the 850 top-spending UK firms spent £21.6 billion on R&D - a rise of 6.4 per cent on the previous scoreboard. The 1,400 companies in the world that spent the most on R&D increased their expenditure by 9.4% to £274 billion. 79% of this expenditure was by companies based in the USA, Japan, Germany, France and the UK. The figures were for the financial year before the current recession. The R&D Society has commented on the publication of the Scoreboard, urging the Government to maintain and improve their efforts to support UK R&D.

The EU Innovation Scoreboard, released 22 January 2009, compared the 27 EU countries' performance on innovation on 29 individual indicators of innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge creation and intellectual property. The Scoreboard reports that the UK is one of six "Innovation leaders", grouped with Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Denmark.

The R&D Society provides short summaries of both these scoreboards, and other indicators of the UK's R&D performance on its website.

2008 R&D Scoreboard published - R&D Society comments "Government must help UK R&D"

Responding to the publication today (26 January 2009) by DIUS and BERR of the 2008 R&D Scoreboard, David Kingham, Chairman of the R&D Society, commented "The overall rise in R&D expenditure by the top 850 UK companies of 6% to £21.6 billion is welcome news, and shows continued confidence in UK companies of the value of R&D to their business. The news that the top 88 UK companies, who also rank in the top 1,400 global investors of R&D, increased their R&D investment by 10.3%, is offset by the Scoreboard’s findings that the remaining companies outside the top 88 grew their R&D by just 1.2% - a fall in real terms."

David Kingham continued, "It is not clear from the Scoreboard whether this reflects cuts in R&D activity or smarter spending by these companies, increasing their R&D efficiency. Given that these figures are from a time period prior to the current recession, we urge the Government to keep a close eye on the R&D activities of UK companies, and maintain and improve their efforts to support UK R&D. "

David Kingham concluded, "We endorse the R&D Scoreboard as a useful tool to enable companies to benchmark their R&D efforts with their peers. Investment in R&D is necessary for the long-term growth of many companies, and now is not the time for the Government to be distracted by short term financial difficulties at the expense of long-term, R&D-based improvements."

Update 27 January 2009: Coverage in Research Fortnight, ScienceBusiness, and The Engineer.

Opportunity: Expert Group for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), c/d 5 January 2009

New members are sought to join an Expert Group for Women in STEM which reports to the Government's Department for Innovation, Universities and skills (DIUS). The Group advises the Government on developments and strategy for women in STEM. The Group advises, participates and initiates activities to achieve a supportive workplace across all STEM employment areas (industry, government, NGOs academia and education).

Applications are welcomed from those in the STEM field and the wider science community with an interest in gender and diversity issues. Membership to the group is unpaid, although reasonable travel expenses for attending meetings will be reimbursed. The closing date for applications is Monday 5 January 2009. See the full advertisement for how to apply.

Policy input: Higher Education at Work – High Skills: High Value, c/d 7 July 2008

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is consulting on its high level skills strategy, 'Higher Education at Work – High Skills: High Value'. The strategy wants to "equip the workforce with the skills required for an innovative and competitive economy." They define these as skills associated with higher education.

They are asking employers to answer questions such as

• What incentives would encourage employers to be more involved in providing careers information, advice and guidance both before, and during university?
• How can we encourage business people to be increasingly contributing directly to course content, design and teaching of university courses?
• How can we do more to increase the level of STEM skills in the existing workforce?
  

You can find out more about the consultation at the'Higher Education at Work – High Skills: High Value'. To respond, fill out the Higher Education at Work online response form. You don't need to answer all the questions - answering only one or two questions is useful too. Responses are accepted until 7 July 2008.

Events: John Denham, Ask the Minister web interview, closes 30 April 2008

Do you have a question about the UK’s science policy? Scenta is canvassing for questions to ask Ian Pearson, the Minister for Science and Innovation with DIUS (the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills). The role of DIUS is to make Britain one of the best places in the world for science, research and innovation and to raise the level of education and skills to give the UK a competitive edge. Scenta will publish the best questions, along with the Minister's answer, on http://www.scenta.co.uk/.

You can submit a question via the Scenta website.

Events: John Denham, Science and Innovation minister, webchat 13 March 2008

John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skiils, will take part in a live webchat on 13 March 2008 at 13:30 GMT. John's remit includes increasing the supply of people in science, technology and engineering as well as developing a world-class research base in the UK. You can submit questions in advance of the event by entering your email address and clicking through to the question form. The website states that John "will take questions focusing on science and technology as the country celebrates National Science and Engineering Week from 7 to 16 March."

R&D Society in the media: DIUS 2007 R&D Scoreboard

The annual R&D Scoreboard, produced for the first time by the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, has just been published, with endorsement from the Research and Development Society.

It reports on the patterns and trends of the 850 largest corporate spenders of R&D in the UK and the 1,250 companies in the world most active in R&D in 2006, based on R&D expenditure reported in company accounts. It reports that the 850 UK firms spent almost £21 billion on R&D - a rise of 9 per cent. The 75 biggest firms increased their R&D spend by 12 per cent, in part due to the UK world-leading status in pharmaceutical R&D. This growth is mainly due to increases in the pharmaceuticals, fixed line telecommunications, and aerospace and defence and banking. These 75 firms account for two-thirds of the £21 billion spend, with the remaining 775 firms increasing R&D spend by only 3.4% compared with last year.

Figures for smaller firms show 95 more firms invested over £0.5m in R&D compared with last year, and invest more in R&D as a proportion of sales than their larger peers. Listed companies (ie those with shareholders) increased their R&D by 12.4% compared with a 0.9% increase for unlisted companies. The top UK sectors by R&D spend were pharmaceuticals, aerospace and defence, software, fixed line telecommunications, automobiles and banks. The sectors that saw the greatest increases in R&D expenditure were travel and leisure, fixed line telecommunications, mining, mobile telecommunications, household goods and banking.

Our event on 22 November 2007 will explore these issues and more. The Scoreboard is published for free on DIUS’s website.