The National Science Foundation (NSF) has just released its first ever Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS). Developed jointly with the U.S. Census Bureau, it reveals that companies located in the U.S. spent $330 billion on R&D in 2008, with $234 billion of that used for research in facilities located in the U.S.
NSF’s previous R&D instrument, carried out every year since 1953, was called the Survey of Industrial Research and Development. But research is conducted differently today than it was 50 years ago, and back in 2004 the National Academies’ Committee on National Statistics recommended that NSF develop an updated version. New features surveyed include:
- worldwide R&D expenses
- R&D employee headcount by occupation category
- R&D expenses by detailed business segments
- share of R&D devoted to new business areas and new science or technology activities
Companies with R&D reported a high ratio of domestic U.S. sales to worldwide sales: well over 60 percent.
The data were gathered from a representative sample of 40,000 U.S. businesses (including U.S. owned and also U.S. affiliates of companies owned outside the U.S.).
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