News Release 16-007
U.S. R&D increased in 2013, well ahead of the pace of gross domestic product
Business R&D performance mainly drove the increase
Most R&D funding -- 63 percent -- went toward development, with 18 percent going to basic research.
January 21, 2016
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U.S. expenditures in research and development (R&D) rose to $456.1 billion in 2013 -- a $20.7 billion increase over the previous year, according to a report from the National Science Foundation's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.
The R&D system in the U.S. includes multiple performers, including businesses, the federal government, non-federal government, universities and colleges, and other nonprofit organizations. Organizations that perform R&D often receive significant levels of outside funding.
The business sector continues to be the largest performer of R&D in the U.S., accounting for $322.5 billion, or 71 percent, of total national expenditures. That figure represents a $20.3 billion increase over the previous year. The business sector's predominance is a longstanding trend; from 1993 to 2013, its annual share ranged from 68 percent to 74 percent.
Universities and colleges accounted for the second-highest performance in 2013, with $64.7 billion, or 14 percent, of total U.S. R&D expenditures. The education sector has a special niche in the nation's R&D system: universities and colleges performed 51 percent of the nation's basic research in 2013.
The federal government conducted $49.9 billion, or 11 percent of the country's R&D in 2013, including $33 billion performed by agencies and in their own facilities and $16.8 billion by 40 federally funded research and development centers. While federal R&D saw yearly increases of between $1 billion and $2 billion from 2008 to 2011, its 2013 total was a $1.5 billion decrease from the previous year.
Other nonprofits performed an estimated $18.6 billion in R&D in 2013, of 4 percent of total U.S. expenditures.
Most of the U.S. total for R&D in 2013 -- $285 billion, or 63 percent -- went toward development. Basic research activities accounted for $80.5 billion, or 18 percent, of total expenditures. Applied research accounted for $90.6 billion, or 20 percent.
-NSF-
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