The pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector dominated UK R&D spending in 2008, the latest R&D scoreboard has revealed.
Around 80% of UK R&D was conducted by just one hundred of the top R&D investing companies, many of which operate in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector.
The R&D Scoreboard is an annual investigation of the top 1,000 UK and top 1,000 global corporate investors in Research and Development (R&D), published by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS).
The release of this information follows an announcement by the Prime Minister last month that £200m from the UK Innovation Investment Fund (UKIIF) will be invested in life sciences, digital and advanced manufacturing businesses.
In 2008, the top 1,000 UK companies invested more than £26bn on developing new products and services and improving productivity, an increase of 9.2% compared with 2007. This increase was largely due to firms in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, aerospace and defence, software and computer services and banking sectors, the report found.
The investigation also revealed that 80% of investment in R&D by the global 1,000 companies occurs in the US, Japan, Germany, France and the UK and that the top 50 UK R&D companies contributed some £385 billion to the broader economies in which they operate.
Even though the current data highlights spending on R&D in 2008 – before the worst of the global economic downturn – BIS argues that it remains an important data source for tracking commercial investment over time.
Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson said: “Since 2000, we’ve provided almost £3.9 billion to innovative companies through R&D tax credits. The UK Innovation Investment Fund is about to invest £325 million in promising technology firms. From 2013, we’re reducing corporation tax on income from patents to 10%. The Government’s commitment to support companies with high-growth potential is clear.”