Email Print Share

News Release 15-094

Company R&D expenditures in U.S. increased 6.7 percent in 2013

Latest figures show companies invested more of their own funds

person looking through a microscope

U.S. companies that performed or funded R&D reported domestic net sales of $10 trillion in 2013.


August 21, 2015

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Companies spent $323 billion on research and development (R&D) performed in the United States during 2013, 6.7 percent more than the $302 billion they spent the previous year.

A new report from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) finds that the companies' own level of R&D funding also rose, going from $247 billion to $265 billion between 2012 and 2013.

Aside from their own funding, companies also put money from external sources into R&D. In 2013, the largest source of such external funding was the federal government, which accounted for $29 billion--most of which came from the Defense Department.

Manufacturing industries, including chemicals, machinery and computer products, were responsible for 69 percent--or $221 billion--of domestic R&D spending in 2013. Of the nonmanufacturing industries, the most R&D spending came from the information sector, which includes software publishers and others, with $57 billion, followed by professional, scientific and technical services, with $31 billion.

U.S. companies that performed or funded R&D reported domestic net sales of $10 trillion in 2013. Those businesses employed 20 million people, a total of 1.5 million of whom were employees associated with R&D efforts. Of those 1.5 million workers, 30 percent were at small companies, 43 percent were at mid-size companies and 27 percent were at the largest companies.

NCSES found that business R&D spending is concentrated in a relatively small number of states, with businesses in California accounting for 29 percent of the investments companies made from their own funding. Other states with large amounts of company-funded R&D included Michigan (5.4 percent), Massachusetts (5.3 percent), Washington (5.3 percent), Texas (5.1 percent), Illinois (4.5 percent), New Jersey (4.5 percent), New York (3.6 percent) and Pennsylvania (3.8 percent).

For more information on this report, please visit NSF's NCSES.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Rob Margetta, NSF, (703) 292-8070, email: rmargett@nsf.gov

Program Contacts
Raymond M. Wolfe, NSF, (703) 292-7789, email: rwolfe@nsf.gov

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

mail icon Get News Updates by Email 

Connect with us online
NSF website: nsf.gov
NSF News: nsf.gov/news
For News Media: nsf.gov/news/newsroom
Statistics: nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards database: nsf.gov/awardsearch/

Follow us on social
Twitter: twitter.com/NSF
Facebook: facebook.com/US.NSF
Instagram: instagram.com/nsfgov