The Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS) is the primary source of information on business domestic and global research and development expenditures and workforce for companies of businesses operating in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey is conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau in accordance with an interagency agreement with the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). BRDIS succeeds the Survey of Industrial Research and Development, which produced statistics for 1953–2007 and was conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (1953–56) and the U.S. Census Bureau (1957–2007).

The results of the survey are used to assess trends in the performance and funding of R&D. Government agencies, corporations, and research organizations use the data to investigate productivity, formulate tax policy, and compare individual company performance with industry averages. Individual researchers in industry and academia use the data to investigate a variety of topics and to prepare professional papers, dissertations, and books. Total R&D expenditure statistics are used by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis for inclusion in their System of National Accounts and Foreign Direct Investment programs.

Further, BRDIS statistics make it possible to evaluate more fully the status of R&D in the United States and to compare the R&D and innovation activities of the United States with those of other nations. The usefulness of the information collected in this survey is enhanced by linking it to the U.S. Census Bureau's Longitudinal Establishment Data file, which contains information on the outputs and inputs of companies' manufacturing plants. Response to this survey is mandatory and confidential under Title 13 of the United States Code.

In conducting BRDIS, data are collected from a probability sample of for-profit companies, which are classified in select manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industries. BRDIS is administered both to companies known to have performed or funded R&D and to companies with no known history of R&D activity. The survey is sent to a single coordinator within each company, but it is organized into sections that help the coordinator collect specific types of information from different experts in the company (e.g., human resources, accounting, R&D managers). Foreign-owned companies are instructed to report only for company operations owned by the U.S. subsidiary and, for purposes of the survey, to treat their foreign owners as if they were unrelated third parties.

The target population for BRDIS consists of all for-profit companies that have five or more paid employees in the United States, have at least one establishment that is in business during the survey year and is located in the United States, and are classified in certain industries, with a particular focus on those companies that perform R&D in the United States. A company is defined as one or more establishments under common domestic ownership or control.

The U.S. Census Bureau's Business Register contains information on more than 3 million establishments with paid employees. It serves as the primary input to the sampling frame from which the sample survey is selected. For companies with more than one establishment, data are summed to the company level to assign an industry classification code and a measure of size, which are used in designing the sample. Companies are excluded from the frame if they are classified in an industry that is outside the scope of BRDIS or have fewer than five employees, based on their prior year's aggregated annual payroll and employment data.

This report includes tabulations containing statistics for multiple years. In these tables, most prior-year statistics have been revised since originally published in the annual BRDIS detailed statistical tables reports. Revised statistics include adjustments based on information obtained after the original statistics were prepared. For any given year, after the published tables are produced, the statistical file used to produce the tables stays open for about 1 year before it is permanently closed. During that year respondents may provide updated data, or information from other U.S. Census Bureau surveys or publicly available sources may become available. The new data and information are evaluated and tested and, if appropriate, revisions are made to the statistical file. In addition to containing 2013 statistics, the multiyear tables in this report (tables 3, 4, 5, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 25) were prepared using the revised statistical files for 2008–12.

Terms used in business accounting and incorporated throughout the tables are defined at the end of the technical notes. BRDIS reports and data can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/industry/.