| Business Expenditure on Research and Development (R&D) 2011-20181 | |||||
| €'000 | |||||
| 2011 | 2013 | 2015 | 2017 | 20181 | |
| Current Expenditure | 1,606,911 | 1,874,663 | 2,075,955 | 2,492,173 | 2,541,566 |
| Capital Expenditure | 150,314 | 147,200 | 157,102 | 278,041 | 236,182 |
| Total Expenditure | 1,757,225 | 2,021,863 | 2,233,057 | 2,770,214 | 2,777,748 |
| of which | |||||
| Irish Spend | 536,868 | 703,121 | 809,662 | 858,849 | 967,088 |
| Foreign Spend | 1,220,357 | 1,318,742 | 1,423,395 | 1,911,365 | 1,810,659 |
| 1Expenditure for 2018 is estimated | |||||
Results from the 2017-2018 Business Expenditure on Research and Development survey show that almost €2.8bn was spent on research and development (R&D) activities by enterprises in Ireland in 2017. This represents an increase of 24% compared with actual expenditure in 2015 and is the largest biennial increase in the last 10 years. Current expenditure, which comprises labour costs and other current costs, accounted for 90% of all expenditure in 2017, with capital expenditure accounting for the remaining 10% or €278m of total expenditure.
Irish owned enterprises reported an increase in R&D spend of 6% or €49m, up from €810m in 2015 to €859m in 2017.
Enterprises were also asked for their estimated R&D expenditure in 2018. These estimates indicate that R&D expenditure increased to €2.78bn in 2018, with the split between current and capital expenditure similar to data reported for 2017. See Headline Table and Figure 1.
Large enterprises’ share of R&D expenditure at 63% in 2017
Enterprises that employ 250 persons or more had the greatest share of R&D expenditure in 2017 with 63% of all actual expenditure, accounting for €1.8bn of the total spend. This was an increase of 43% or €523m on their 2015 spend.
Small enterprises with less than 50 persons engaged spent almost €425m on R&D in 2017 which accounted for over 15% of the spend.
Medium sized enterprises employing between 50 and 249 persons spent just under €595m in the same period which represented 22% of total spend. See Figure 2 and Table 1.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Share of total R&D expenditure |
|---|---|
| Small (<50) | 15.3 |
| Medium (50-249) | 21.5 |
| Large (250+) | 63.2 |
Labour Costs accounted for 60% of all R&D expenditure
In 2017, enterprises reported that almost €1.7bn was spent on labour costs, which accounted for 60% of all R&D expenditure. Other current costs, which include materials, supplies, equipment and overheads associated with R&D, had a spend of nearly €841m which accounted for 30% of total expenditure. The remaining expenditure of €278m was accounted for by capital expenditure with just over 43% of capital expenditure being spent on Instruments and Equipment wholly acquired for R&D purposes. See Figure 3 and Tables 2 and 3.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Share of total R&D expenditure |
|---|---|
| Labour costs | 59.6 |
| Other current costs | 30.4 |
| Capital expenditure | 10 |
69% of total R&D expenditure was by Foreign owned enterprises
Foreign owned enterprises accounted for 69% of all R&D expenditure, with just over €1.7bn being spent on current expenditure, which represented 90% of all their R&D expenditure. The remaining 10% or €183m was spent on capital expenditure. Irish owned enterprises in comparison spent almost €859m on R&D, with current expenditure at €764m accounting for nearly 89% of this expenditure. The remaining 11% or €95m was spent on capital expenditure. See Figure 4a and Table 1.
The largest 100 enterprises in terms of R&D spend accounted for almost €2.1bn, or 75%, of the total R&D expenditure in 2017. Of these top 100 enterprises, 82% of the spend can be attributed to foreign owned enterprises. The spend of enterprises outside the Top 100 amounted to €684m. Of this spend, €198m, or 29%, can be attributed to foreign owned enterprises, with Irish owned enterprises accounting for €486m, or 71%, of the spend. See Figure 4b and Table 5.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Share of total R&D expenditure |
|---|---|
| Irish owned enterprises | 31 |
| Foreign owned enterprises | 69 |
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Share of total R&D expenditure |
|---|---|
| Irish owned enterprises | 17.9 |
| Foreign owned enterprises | 82.1 |
Services sector accounted for 55% of total R&D expenditure
R&D spending was highest in the Services sector, accounting for 55% of all expenditure. Spending in this sector was over €1.5bn in 2017, while the Manufacturing sector spent over €1.2bn on R&D. For the purposes of this survey it should be noted that spending in the Services sector includes the spend from all other non-Manufacturing sectors. The value of this contribution to the Services sector total is not significant.
Services sector enterprises reported that labour costs accounted for 78% of their current expenditure, while Manufacturing enterprises stated that 50% of their current expenditure was related to labour costs. In terms of capital expenditure, Manufacturing enterprises spent nearly €172m which represents 62% of all capital expenditure on R&D. See Figure 5 and Tables 2 and 3.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Share of total R&D expenditure |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing sector | 45.2 |
| Services sector | 54.8 |
Eastern & Midland region accounted for two-thirds of all R&D expenditure
The BERD regional data has been produced in accordance with the latest NUTS classifications for 2017. An Information Note can be found here.
Total R&D spending in the Eastern & Midland (EM) region was in excess of €1.8bn in 2017 which accounted for 67% of all R&D expenditure. The remaining third of all R&D expenditure, which accounted for €909m of the total spend, was spent in the Southern region (€582m or 21%) and in the Northern & Western (NW) region (€327m or 12%) respectively. 91% of all R&D spending in the NW region can be attributed to current expenditure, while the corresponding figure for the EM region was 90%. See Figure 6 and Table 1.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Persons engaged |
|---|---|
| Southern | 21 |
| Eastern & Midland | 67.2 |
| Northern & Western | 11.8 |
| Small (<50) | Medium (50-249) | Large (250+) | |
| Own company/internal funds | 12.3 | 18.8 | 51.1 |
| Public funding | 1.2 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
| All other sources | 1.9 | 1.6 | 8.8 |
82% of funding for R&D expenditure came from enterprises' own funds
Enterprises were asked to report on how R&D expenditure was funded. 82% of all R&D expenditure was funded by enterprises’ own company/internal funds, while 6% of expenditure was funded from public funds. The highest source of funding for R&D was own company/internal funds by large enterprises with 51% of total R&D expenditure. See figure 7 and table 6.
| Percentage | |
| Sweden | 2.27 |
| Austria | 2.18 |
| Germany | 2 |
| Denmark | 1.94 |
| Finland | 1.93 |
| Belgium | 1.72 |
| Slovenia | 1.67 |
| France | 1.44 |
| EU28 | 1.31 |
| Netherlands | 1.11 |
| United Kingdom | 1.1 |
| Czech Republic | 1.05 |
| Hungary | 1 |
| Ireland | 0.85 |
| Italy | 0.78 |
| Bulgaria | 0.7 |
| Estonia | 0.68 |
| Luxembourg | 0.66 |
| Spain | 0.64 |
| Portugal | 0.58 |
| Poland | 0.47 |
| Croatia | 0.43 |
| Malta | 0.38 |
| Slovakia | 0.33 |
| Greece | 0.32 |
| Lithuania | 0.29 |
| Romania | 0.21 |
| Latvia | 0.15 |
| Cyprus | 0.11 |
Ireland ranked 13th in EU28 in terms of R&D intensity in 2015
The Business Expenditure on Research and Development survey is carried out in all EU28 member states. The most recent data available from Eurostat is taken from the 2015-2016 survey and allows comparisons across the EU. R&D intensity for a country is defined as the R&D expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product.
In 2015 the R&D intensity for Ireland, at 0.9%, was below the EU28 average of 1.3%. This ranked Ireland 13th in the EU28, a fall from 9th in 2013 and 10th in 2011.
Sweden had the highest 2015 R&D intensity in the EU with a figure of 2.3%, while Cyprus had the lowest R&D intensity at 0.1%. 2017 data for the EU28 was not available at time of publication. See Figure 8 and Table 6.
Researchers accounted for 57% of all R&D staff
Enterprises were asked to indicate the numbers of staff who devoted any of their time to R&D activities. R&D personnel includes researchers (PhD qualified and others), technicians and other support staff. In total, there were 27,322 persons engaged in R&D in Ireland in 2017. Of this total, 57% or 15,606 persons were employed as researchers, of which 2,196 were PhD qualified researchers. In addition, there were 7,392 technicians which accounted for 27% of all staff, with the remaining 16% of R&D personnel accounted for by 4,324 support staff. See Figure 9 and Table 4.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Percentage of research personnel |
|---|---|
| Other researchers | 49.1 |
| Technicians | 27.1 |
| Support staff | 15.8 |
| PhD qualified researchers | 8 |
| PhD qualified researchers | |
| Small (<50) | 39.2 |
| Medium (50-249) | 19.7 |
| Large (250+) | 41.1 |
27% of all R&D personnel employed by small enterprises
The number of R&D personnel engaged in small enterprises in 2017 was 7,274 which accounted for 27% of all R&D personnel. The number of R&D personnel in medium sized enterprises was 7,808. This accounted for 29% of all R&D personnel. 12,240 R&D staff were engaged in large enterprises. This accounted for 45% of all R&D personnel. Small enterprises accounted for 860 of PhD qualified researchers which equates to 39% of all PhD qualified researchers; large enterprises accounted for 41% of all PhD qualified researchers with 903 persons employed as PhD researchers in these enterprises. Just one in five PhD qualified researchers or 433 persons were employed in medium sized enterprises.
13,690 R&D staff were engaged in Irish owned enterprises, while 13,630 R&D staff were engaged in foreign owned enterprises. There were more R&D staff engaged in the Services sector (63%) than in the Manufacturing sector (37%)
16,491 people were engaged as R&D staff in the Eastern & Midland (EM) region in 2017 compared to 6,640 in the Southern region and 4,189 in the Northern & Western (NW) region. The Eastern & Midland (EM) region accounted for 60% of all R&D staff. See Figure 10 and Table 4.
| Male | Female | |
| 2011 | 75.9 | 24.1 |
| 2013 | 76.9 | 23.1 |
| 2015 | 75.9 | 24.1 |
| 2017 | 73.9 | 26.1 |
Males accounted for 74% of all R&D staff
The number of male R&D personnel in 2017 was 20,190 which accounted for 74% of all R&D staff. This compares with a 2015 figure of 76%. Research staff had the largest share of female employment with 55%, while Support staff had the lowest share of female staff at just 20%. See Figure 11 and Table 4.
| Percentage of enterprises | |
| €0 - €99,999 | 36.9 |
| €100,000 - €499,999 | 33.3 |
| €500,000 - €1,999,999 | 18.2 |
| €2,000,000 - €4,999,999 | 5.3 |
| €5,000,000 and over | 6.3 |
Nearly 1,800 enterprises engaged in R&D activities in Ireland in 2017
R&D active enterprises are those enterprises who reported they either performed in-house R&D, had R&D performed on their behalf, or controlled branches engaged in R&D activity. There were nearly 1,800 enterprises engaged in R&D activities in Ireland in 2017. More than 70% of all enterprises spent less than €500,000 on R&D activities. Almost one fifth had a spend in the €500,000 - €1.99m category, whilst only 12% of enterprises spent €2m or more on R&D activities. See Figure 12 and Table 8.
Small enterprises accounted for 68% of R&D active enterprises
In 2017, over 1,200 small enterprises were engaged in R&D. They accounted for 68% of all R&D active enterprises, compared with 395 medium enterprises which accounted for 22% of R&D active enterprises, and 181 large enterprises which accounted for 10% of all R&D active enterprises. See Figure 13 and Table 8.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Enterprises engaged in R&D |
|---|---|
| Small (<50) | 1208 |
| Medium (50-249) | 395 |
| Large (250+) | 181 |
| Small (<50) | Medium (50-249) | Large (250+) | |
| €0 - €99,999 | 564 | 84 | 10 |
| €100,000 - €499,999 | 436 | 129 | 28 |
| €500,000 - €1,999,999 | 174 | 97 | 54 |
| €2,000,000 - €4,999,999 | 29 | 41 | 25 |
| €5,000,000 and over | 5 | 44 | 63 |
Large firms accounted for the majority of R&D spend of €5m and over
Large firms accounted for the majority of R&D spend of €5m and over (56%), while small firms had by far the largest share of spend under €100,000 (86%).
Medium-sized firms had the highest proportion of spend in the €2m to €4.99m category (43%). Small firms (31%) and large firms (26%) had a similar proportion of spend in this category. See Figure 14 and Table 8.
| Irish owned enterprises | Foreign owned enterprises | |
| €0 - €99,999 | 612 | 46 |
| €100,000 - €499,999 | 523 | 71 |
| €500,000 - €1,999,999 | 235 | 90 |
| €2,000,000 - €4,999,999 | 49 | 46 |
| €5,000,000 and over | 36 | 76 |
82% of R&D active enterprises were Irish
There were 1,455 Irish owned enterprises engaged in R&D activities in 2017 which equates to 82% of all R&D active enterprises, compared to 329 foreign owned enterprises which accounted for the remaining 18% of all R&D active enterprises. 78% of all Irish owned enterprises spent less than €500,000 on research and development compared to 36% of all foreign owned enterprises. See Figure 15 and Table 8.
| Manufacturing sector | Services sector | |
| €0 - €99,999 | 304 | 354 |
| €100,000 - €499,999 | 233 | 361 |
| €500,000 - €1,999,999 | 125 | 200 |
| €2,000,000 - €4,999,999 | 37 | 58 |
| €5,000,000 and over | 51 | 61 |
41% of R&D active enterprises in Manufacturing sector had a spend of less than €100,000
658 or 37% of R&D active firms had a spend of under €100,000 in 2017. This was closely followed by the spend category €100,000-€499,999, with 33% of firms.
The most popular spend category was less than €100,000 for Manufacturing sector firms at 41%, while for the Services sector, the €100,000-€499,999 category was most popular at 35%. See Figure 16 and Table 8.
| Table 1 Total expenditure on research and development by size of enterprise, nationality of ownership, sector of activity and region1, 2015 and 2017 | ||||||
| €'000 | ||||||
| Total current expenditure | Total capital expenditure | Total R&D expenditure | ||||
| 2015 | 2017 | 2015 | 2017 | 2015 | 2017 | |
| Size of enterprise | ||||||
| Small (<50 persons engaged) | 470,677 | 385,555 | 31,090 | 39,171 | 501,767 | 424,726 |
| Medium (50 - 249 persons engaged) | 465,800 | 548,822 | 37,480 | 45,791 | 503,280 | 594,613 |
| Large (250+ persons engaged) | 1,139,479 | 1,557,797 | 88,531 | 193,079 | 1,228,010 | 1,750,876 |
| Nationality of ownership | ||||||
| Irish owned enterprises | 750,750 | 763,759 | 58,912 | 95,090 | 809,662 | 858,849 |
| Foreign owned enterprises | 1,325,205 | 1,728,414 | 98,190 | 182,951 | 1,423,395 | 1,911,365 |
| Sector of activity | ||||||
| Manufacturing sector | 805,212 | 1,079,566 | 70,865 | 171,885 | 876,077 | 1,251,451 |
| Services sector | 1,270,743 | 1,412,607 | 86,237 | 106,156 | 1,356,980 | 1,518,763 |
| Region | ||||||
| Northern and Western | .. | 297,009 | .. | 30,409 | .. | 327,418 |
| Southern | .. | 512,959 | .. | 68,903 | .. | 581,862 |
| Eastern and Midland | .. | 1,682,205 | .. | 178,728 | .. | 1,860,933 |
| Total - all enterprises | 2,075,955 | 2,492,173 | 157,102 | 278,041 | 2,233,057 | 2,770,214 |
| 1The BERD regional data has been produced in accordance with the latest NUTS classifications for 2017. | ||||||
| Table 2 Current expenditure on research and development by size of enterprise, nationality of ownership, sector of activity and region1, 2017 | |||
| €'000 | |||
| Labour costs | Other current costs | Total current expenditure | |
| Size of enterprise | |||
| Small (<50 persons engaged) | 275,190 | 110,365 | 385,555 |
| Medium (50 - 249 persons engaged) | 397,002 | 151,820 | 548,822 |
| Large (250+ persons engaged) | 979,152 | 578,646 | 1,557,797 |
| Nationality of ownership | |||
| Irish owned enterprises | 549,943 | 213,816 | 763,759 |
| Foreign owned enterprises | 1,101,400 | 627,015 | 1,728,414 |
| Sector of activity | |||
| Manufacturing sector | 543,162 | 536,404 | 1,079,566 |
| Services sector | 1,108,181 | 304,427 | 1,412,607 |
| Region | |||
| Northern and Western | 170,204 | 126,806 | 297,009 |
| Southern | 320,645 | 192,314 | 512,959 |
| Eastern and Midland | 1,160,494 | 521,711 | 1,682,205 |
| Total - all enterprises | 1,651,343 | 840,831 | 2,492,173 |
| 1The BERD regional data has been produced in accordance with the latest NUTS classifications for 2017. | |||
| Table 3 Capital expenditure on research and development by size of enterprise, nationality of ownership, sector of activity and region1, 2017 | ||||||
| €'000 | ||||||
| Land and buildings | Payments made for licences to use intellectual products | Instruments and equipment excluding software | Software purchased wholly for R&D purposes | Software development by company in-house and used in-house | Total capital expenditure | |
| Size of enterprise | ||||||
| Small (<50 persons engaged) | 2,927 | 13,860 | 11,590 | 3,384 | 7,412 | 39,171 |
| Medium (50 - 249 persons engaged) | 9,564 | 7,206 | 13,136 | 2,581 | 13,303 | 45,791 |
| Large (250+ persons engaged) | 69,989 | 4,627 | 95,686 | 13,369 | 9,409 | 193,079 |
| Nationality of ownership | ||||||
| Irish owned enterprises | 15,357 | 17,829 | 23,631 | 11,907 | 26,365 | 95,090 |
| Foreign owned enterprises | 67,122 | 7,864 | 96,779 | 7,428 | 3,759 | 182,951 |
| Sector of activity | ||||||
| Manufacturing sector | 67,444 | 9,830 | 88,673 | 4,670 | 1,268 | 171,885 |
| Services sector | 15,036 | 15,863 | 31,738 | 14,665 | 28,856 | 106,156 |
| Region | ||||||
| Northern and Western | 2,176 | 13,153 | 13,594 | 1,372 | 114 | 30,409 |
| Southern | 26,250 | 4,499 | 31,037 | 3,727 | 3,391 | 68,903 |
| Eastern and Midland | 54,054 | 8,041 | 75,780 | 14,236 | 26,617 | 178,728 |
| Total - all enterprises | 82,480 | 25,693 | 120,412 | 19,334 | 30,124 | 278,041 |
| 1The BERD regional data has been produced in accordance with the latest NUTS classifications for 2017. | ||||||
| Table 4 Total headcount of research personnel by size of enterprise, nationality of ownership, sector of activity and region1, 2017 | |||||||||||||||
| No. | |||||||||||||||
| PhD qualified researchers | Other researchers | Technicians | Support staff | All R&D staff | |||||||||||
| Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | Total | |
| Size of enterprise | |||||||||||||||
| Small (<50 persons engaged) | 623 | 237 | 860 | 2,560 | 582 | 3,142 | 1,600 | 300 | 1,900 | 962 | 410 | 1,372 | 5,745 | 1,529 | 7,274 |
| Medium (50 - 249 persons engaged) | 303 | 130 | 433 | 2,616 | 790 | 3,406 | 2,068 | 690 | 2,758 | 843 | 368 | 1,211 | 5,830 | 1,978 | 7,808 |
| Large (250+ persons engaged) | 560 | 343 | 903 | 4,991 | 1,871 | 6,862 | 1,960 | 774 | 2,734 | 1,104 | 637 | 1,741 | 8,615 | 3,625 | 12,240 |
| Nationality of ownership | |||||||||||||||
| Irish owned enterprises | 797 | 341 | 1,138 | 4,633 | 1,299 | 5,932 | 3,240 | 845 | 4,085 | 1,820 | 715 | 2,535 | 10,490 | 3,200 | 13,690 |
| Foreign owned enterprises | 689 | 369 | 1,058 | 5,534 | 1,943 | 7,477 | 2,388 | 918 | 3,306 | 1,089 | 700 | 1,789 | 9,700 | 3,930 | 13,630 |
| Sector of activity | |||||||||||||||
| Manufacturing sector | 570 | 294 | 864 | 2,981 | 893 | 3,874 | 2,352 | 644 | 2,996 | 1,596 | 661 | 2,257 | 7,499 | 2,492 | 9,991 |
| Services sector | 915 | 416 | 1,331 | 7,186 | 2,350 | 9,536 | 3,276 | 1,119 | 4,395 | 1,312 | 754 | 2,066 | 12,689 | 4,639 | 17,328 |
| Region | |||||||||||||||
| Northern and Western | 190 | 83 | 273 | 1,446 | 337 | 1,783 | 961 | 275 | 1,236 | 639 | 258 | 897 | 3,236 | 953 | 4,189 |
| Southern | 389 | 173 | 562 | 2,333 | 621 | 2,954 | 1,600 | 429 | 2,029 | 746 | 349 | 1,095 | 5,068 | 1,572 | 6,640 |
| Eastern and Midland | 907 | 453 | 1,360 | 6,388 | 2,285 | 8,673 | 3,067 | 1,059 | 4,126 | 1,524 | 808 | 2,332 | 11,886 | 4,605 | 16,491 |
| Total - all enterprises | 1,486 | 710 | 2,196 | 10,167 | 3,243 | 13,410 | 5,628 | 1,764 | 7,392 | 2,909 | 1,415 | 4,324 | 20,190 | 7,132 | 27,322 |
| 1The BERD regional data has been produced in accordance with the latest NUTS classifications for 2017. | |||||||||||||||
| Table 5 Contribution of 100 largest enterprises by size of R&D spend and nationality of ownership, 2017 | |||
| €'000 | |||
| Top 100 enterprises | Other enterprises | Total - all enterprises | |
| Nationality of ownership | |||
| Irish owned | 372,777 | 486,072 | 858,849 |
| Foreign owned | 1,713,724 | 197,641 | 1,911,365 |
| Total | 2,086,501 | 683,713 | 2,770,214 |
| Table 6 Sources of funds for business expenditure on research and development by size of enterprise, 2017 | ||||
| €'000 | ||||
| Own company /internal funds | Public funding | All other sources | Total R&D funding | |
| Size of enterprise | ||||
| Small (<50 persons engaged) | 341,444 | 31,880 | 51,402 | 424,726 |
| Medium (50 - 249 persons engaged) | 519,969 | 29,160 | 45,484 | 594,613 |
| Large (250+ persons engaged) | 1,416,796 | 90,640 | 243,440 | 1,750,876 |
| Total - all enterprises | 2,278,209 | 151,680 | 340,326 | 2,770,214 |
| Table 7 R&D intensity, percentage of GDP for EU28, 2011, 2013 and 2015 | |||||||
| 2011 | 2013 | 2015 | |||||
| Finland | 2.56 | Sweden | 2.28 | Sweden | 2.27 | ||
| Sweden | 2.24 | Finland | 2.26 | Austria | 2.18 | ||
| Denmark | 1.96 | Austria | 2.09 | Germany | 2.00 | ||
| Germany | 1.89 | Slovenia | 1.97 | Denmark | 1.94 | ||
| Austria | 1.84 | Germany | 1.90 | Finland | 1.93 | ||
| Slovenia | 1.79 | Denmark | 1.88 | Belgium | 1.72 | ||
| Belgium | 1.48 | Belgium | 1.62 | Slovenia | 1.67 | ||
| Estonia | 1.46 | France | 1.44 | France | 1.44 | ||
| France | 1.40 | EU28 | 1.28 | EU28 | 1.31 | ||
| EU28 | 1.24 | Ireland | 1.12 | Netherlands | 1.11 | ||
| Ireland | 1.09 | Netherlands | 1.07 | United Kingdom | 1.10 | ||
| Netherlands | 1.06 | United Kingdom | 1.05 | Czech Republic | 1.05 | ||
| United Kingdom | 1.06 | Czech Republic | 1.03 | Hungary | 1.00 | ||
| Luxembourg | 0.96 | Hungary | 0.96 | Ireland | 0.85 | ||
| Czech Republic | 0.86 | Estonia | 0.82 | Italy | 0.78 | ||
| Hungary | 0.74 | Italy | 0.72 | Bulgaria | 0.70 | ||
| Spain | 0.69 | Luxembourg | 0.68 | Estonia | 0.68 | ||
| Portugal | 0.69 | Spain | 0.67 | Luxembourg | 0.66 | ||
| Italy | 0.66 | Portugal | 0.63 | Spain | 0.64 | ||
| Malta | 0.44 | Croatia | 0.41 | Portugal | 0.58 | ||
| Croatia | 0.34 | Malta | 0.40 | Poland | 0.47 | ||
| Bulgaria | 0.28 | Bulgaria | 0.39 | Croatia | 0.43 | ||
| Slovakia | 0.25 | Slovakia | 0.38 | Malta | 0.38 | ||
| Lithuania | 0.24 | Poland | 0.38 | Slovakia | 0.33 | ||
| Greece | 0.23 | Greece | 0.27 | Greece | 0.32 | ||
| Poland | 0.22 | Lithuania | 0.24 | Lithuania | 0.29 | ||
| Latvia | 0.19 | Latvia | 0.17 | Romania | 0.21 | ||
| Romania | 0.18 | Romania | 0.12 | Latvia | 0.15 | ||
| Cyprus | 0.07 | Cyprus | 0.09 | Cyprus | 0.11 | ||
| Source: Eurostat at 09.04.19. | |||||||
| Table 8 Number of enterprises with R&D activities by size of spend on R&D, by size of enterprise, nationality of ownership and sector of activity, 2017 | ||||||
| €0 - €99,999 | €100,000 - €499,999 | €500,000 - €1,999,999 | €2,000,000 - €4,999,999 | €5,000,000m and over | Total enterprises | |
| Size of enterprise | ||||||
| Small (<50 persons engaged) | 564 | 436 | 174 | 29 | 5 | 1,208 |
| Medium (50 - 249 persons engaged) | 84 | 129 | 97 | 41 | 44 | 395 |
| Large (250+ persons engaged) | 10 | 28 | 54 | 25 | 63 | 181 |
| Nationality of ownership | ||||||
| Irish owned enterprises | 612 | 523 | 235 | 49 | 36 | 1,455 |
| Foreign owned enterprises | 46 | 71 | 90 | 46 | 76 | 329 |
| Sector of activity | ||||||
| Manufacturing sector | 304 | 233 | 125 | 37 | 51 | 750 |
| Services sector | 354 | 361 | 200 | 58 | 61 | 1,034 |
Introduction: The Business Expenditure on Research and Development (BERD) Survey 2017-2018 is a survey of the research and development activities of enterprises in Ireland and other EU Member States.
The BERD Survey is carried out under Commission Regulation (EC) No 995/2012 implementing Decision No 1608/2003/EC. The survey collects information about the research and development activities of enterprises across all business sectors of the economy. Most questions gather information on the spending and performance of research and development.
The BERD Survey is an online only survey conducted by the CSO under Section 11 of the Statistics Act, 1993 to increase efficiency in the collection of statistical data and to reduce the burden on the participating enterprises. Data was collected in accordance with Section 33 of the Statistics Act, 1993 and with EU law and the survey was carried out under the agreed set of international rules as laid out in the OECD Frascati manual. Data is strictly confidential and will be used only for statistical purposes.
Survey: The BERD Survey is a targeted survey which is issued to all enterprises which are believed to be actively engaged in research and development across all business sectors of the economy. These enterprises were identified from various sources which included previous responses to the survey, other CSO data and other administrative sources.
Questionnaire: The BERD questionnaire can be accessed from the CSO website here.
Definition of Research and Development: Research and Development (R&D) is creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to create new or improved products, processes, services or other applications. R&D is distinguishable from other activities by the presence of an appreciable element of novelty and by the resolution of problems and uncertainties using scientific or technological means. Routine activities, such as routine software development, routine monitoring/analysis or pre-production preparation, where there is no appreciable novelty or problem resolution, are not considered to be R&D for the purpose of this survey.
Regional data: The BERD regional data has been produced in accordance with the latest NUTS classifications for 2017. An Information Note can be found here.
Rounding of figures: Totals may not sum due to rounding.
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Show Table 1 Total expenditure on research and development by size of enterprise, nationality of ownership, sector of activity and region, 2015 and 2017
Hide Table 1 Total expenditure on research and development by size of enterprise, nationality of ownership, sector of activity and region, 2015 and 2017