Top Stories
Foreign-owned businesses in Britain now spend more on R&D than British companies: data
Last Updated: 2018-08-04 07:07 | Xinhua
 Save  Print   E-mail

Research and development by foreign-owned British businesses had grown more than UK-owned businesses, data published Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed.

New analysis, covering the years 2003 to 2016, has been produced by linking results from the Business Expenditure on Research and Development Survey and the Annual Business Survey.

It shows that in-house R&D spending more than doubled from 4.2 billion U.S. dollars to more than 9.5 billion U.S. dollars, for foreign-owned British businesses, while over the same period UK-owned businesses spending on R&D grew by 73 percent from over 4.8 billion U.S. dollars to 8.35 billion U.S. dollars.

The study shows that foreign-owned British businesses have seen their share of research and development grown from 42 percent of the total to 59 percent.

Research and development (R&D) is seen by governments around the world as an important driver of innovation and economic growth, said ONS.

In addition, said ONS, the analysis suggests that the GVA of foreign-owned businesses that invest in R&D has continued to rise in recent years while the GVA of British owned companies who invest in R&D has stayed relatively stable.

The ONS data show the number of foreign-owned British businesses has increased by 106 percent during the 13-year span. In 2003, there were 709 foreign-owned UK businesses compared with 1,458 in 2016. This has outstripped growth within UK-owned businesses, which has risen by 47 percent over the same period.

These differences are most noticeable from 2007 onwards, said ONS, with the number of foreign-owned UK businesses growing in most years compared with UK-owned businesses, which were declining.

In its conclusions, ONS said the analysis highlights that an increasing number of businesses conducting in-house research and development (R&D) in Britain are foreign-owned.

Additionally, the figures show that the rise in the number of foreign-owned UK businesses can be associated with an increased proportion of both turnover and approximate gross value added for these businesses since 2003.

"This work has provoked a range of questions that could be investigated, including whether the levels of business investment and the funding source are having an impact on R&D spending, and if all industrial sectors are behaving in a similar way to one another."

The British government through its Industrial Strategy has announced its desire to increase the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on R&D to 2.4 percent by 2027.

(Editor:王苏)

Share to 
0
Related Articles:
BACK TO TOP
  • Sports
  • Soccer
  • Basketball
  • Tennis
  • Formula One
  • Athletics
  • Others
  • Entertainment
  • Celebrity
  • Movie & TV
  • Music
  • Theater & Arts
  • Fashion
  • Beauty Pageant
Edition:
Link:    
About CE.cn | About the Economic Daily | Contact us
Copyright 2003-2024 China Economic Net. All right reserved
Foreign-owned businesses in Britain now spend more on R&D than British companies: data
Source:Xinhua | 2018-08-04 07:07
Share to 
0