R&D spending on the rise in UK

R&D investment among UK businesses continued its upward trend in 2003, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In 2003, total R&D spend rose four per cent from 2002 to £13.7bn. When evaluated in terms of current prices, R&D investment has been on the rise since 1997, says the ONS.

Pharmaceutical companies were the biggest spender for the year with £3.2m or 24 per cent of the total. Aerospace came in second with 12 per cent and computer-related businesses were third with 10 per cent.

The majority - 55 per cent - of R&D funds came from businesses' own coffers, with about a quarter from abroad and 11 per cent from the UK government.

While overall R&D spending rose, the number of staff employed on research projects fell by two per cent from 2002. Unsurprisingly scientists and engineers make up more than half of the R&D personnel.

The ONS research is the result of a survey of 3720 UK businesses.

Not all research in this area is as optimistic as the ONS figures, though. According to the Department of Trade and Industry, R&D investment in the UK grew just one per cent between 2002 and 2003 and five per cent over the last four years.