Scotland on high for innovation and business research
● Official figures show R&D pushing through £1bn as SE report gives added lift
on business research and development (R&D) in Scotland has topped £1 billion for the first time, with innovation also said to be at an all-time high, new figures reveal.
Official data for 2016 yesterday showed an increase of £98 million in spending on the previous year to a total of £1.072bn.
The R&D spend is dominated by manufacturing at £592m, followed by the services industry (£366m) and “other” product groups such as agriculture, waste management and the oil and gas sector (£114m).
The number of people employed in R&D across Scotland has also increased, to 11,943 – the highest level since annual statistics were first published in 2001.
The Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Scotland 2016 report came as economic agency Scottish Enterprise yesterday said business innovation north of the Border was at a record high.
The performance data from SE’S current business plan shows that businesses are reaping more commercial success than ever before from their innovation activity to drive growth and international expansion.
Over the last two years, the agency’s achievements include £750m of new revenue from successful innovation projects with Scottish companies – with international sales comprising half of this – and £424m of investment in new R&D activity in Scotland.
SE said that Scottish Enterprise-supported projects now account for £1 of every £4 spent on R&D north of the Border.
Meanwhile, the number of SME R&D projects has risen five-fold since 2013 and the value has increased sevenfold. Last year, Sme-supported R&D exceeded the value of large company R&D projects.
Jim Watson, director of innovation and enterprise servicspending es at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Our performance results over the last two years show a universal rise in business innovation activity across Scotland, regardless of how you measure it.
“Designing our approach to innovation to stimulate business demand and aligning our resources behind this approach has meant we’re on track to meet or exceed all of our three-year business plan targets.
“It’s also great to see independent endorsement of our approach, with the news that Scotland has reached £1bn R&D investment for the first time, as well as the EY Attractiveness Survey 2017 recognising Scotland as the UK leader in attracting foreign direct investment for R&D projects.”
Economy Secretary Keith Brown welcomed the figures in the BERD Scotland 2016 report.
He said: “This is great news for Scotland’s economy. It shows that Scotland’s businesses are embracing innovation and the measures we have taken to increase business investment in research and development are paying off.”