by Raymond M. Wolfe[1]

Businesses spent $375 billion on research and development performance in the United States in 2016, a 5.3% increase from 2015 (table 1). Funding from the companies' own sources was $318 billion in 2016, a 7.1% increase from 2015. Funding from other sources was $57 billion in 2016 and $59 billion in 2015. Data for this InfoBrief are from the Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS), developed and cosponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation and by the U.S. Census Bureau.

TABLE 1. Funds spent for business R&D performed in the United States, by type of R&D, source of funds, and size of company: 2015–16
(Millions of U.S. dollars)

i = more than 50% of the estimate is a combination of imputation and reweighting to account for nonresponse.

a Domestic R&D performance is the cost of R&D paid for by the respondent company and others outside of the company and performed by the company.
b R&D is planned, creative work aimed at discovering new knowledge or devising new applications of available knowledge. This includes (1) activities aimed at acquiring new knowledge or understanding without specific immediate commercial applications or uses (basic research), (2) activities aimed at solving a specific problem or meeting a specific commercial objective (applied research), and (3) systematic use of research and practical experience and resulting in additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new or improved goods, services, or processes (development).
c Includes foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies.
d Includes companies located inside and outside the United States; U.S. state government agencies and laboratories; U.S. universities, colleges, and academic researchers; and all other organizations located inside and outside the United States.
e The Business R&D and Innovation Survey does not include companies with fewer than five employees.

NOTES: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Statistics are representative of companies located in the United States that performed or funded R&D. Excludes data for federally funded research and development centers.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau, Business R&D and Innovation Survey.

Table 1 Source Data: Excel file

Selected characteristic and company size 2015 2016
Domestic R&D performancea 355,821 374,685
Type of R&Db
Basic research 21,792 24,644
Applied research 56,472 61,020
Development 277,558 289,021
Paid for by the companyc 296,677 317,731
Basic research 16,306 19,143
Applied research 44,344 48,806
Development 236,027 249,782
Paid for by others 59,144 56,954
Basic research 5,486 5,501 i
Applied research 12,128 12,213
Development 41,530 39,239
Source of funds
Federal 26,990 23,772
Otherd 32,154 33,182
Size of company (number of domestic employees)
Micro companiese
5–9 2,988 i 1,581 i
Small companies
10–19 5,680 i 4,958 i
20–49 10,249 i 9,662 i
Medium companies
50–99 11,509 9,298
100–249 13,602 14,875
Large companies
250–499 13,553 13,092
500–999 15,217 14,450
1,000–4,999 58,094 63,971
5,000–9,999 38,838 40,633
10,000–24,999 59,328 65,594
25,000 or more 126,763 136,571

R&D Performance, by Type of R&D, Industrial Sector, and Source of Funding

In 2016, of the $375 billion companies spent on R&D, $25 billion (7%) was spent on basic research, $61 billion (16%) on applied research, and $289 billion (77%) on development. The distribution was similar to the 2015 distribution (6%, 16%, and 78%, respectively) (table 1). In 2016, companies in manufacturing industries performed $251 billion (67%) of domestic R&D, defined as R&D performed in the 50 states and Washington, DC (table 2). Most of the funding was from these companies' own funds (84%). Companies in nonmanufacturing industries performed $124 billion of domestic R&D (33% of total domestic R&D performance), 85% of which was paid for from companies' own funds.

TABLE 2. Funds spent for business R&D performed in the United States, by source of funds, selected industry, and company size: 2016
(Millions of U.S. dollars)

* = amount is less than $500,000; D = suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information; i = more than 50% of the estimate is a combination of imputation and reweighting to account for nonresponse.

NAICS = North American Industry Classification System; nec = not elsewhere classified.

a All R&D is the cost of domestic R&D paid for by the respondent company and others outside of the company and performed by the company.
b Includes foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies ($11.1 billion).
c Includes foreign parent companies of U.S. subsidiaries ($14.8 billion) and unaffiliated companies ($3.0 billion). Excludes funds from foreign subsidiaries to U.S. companies paid for through inter-company transactions ($11.1 billion).
d Includes U.S. state government agencies and laboratories ($0.2 billion); U.S. universities, colleges, and academic researchers ($0.1 billion); and all other organizations located inside ($0.9 billion) and outside the United States ($0.1 billion).
e The Business R&D and Innovation Survey does not include companies with fewer than five employees.

NOTES: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Statistics are representative of companies located in the United States that performed or funded R&D. Industry classification was based on dominant business code for domestic R&D performance, where available. For companies that did not report business codes, the classification used for sampling was assigned. Excludes data for federally funded research and development centers.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau, Business R&D and Innovation Survey, 2016.

Table 2 Source Data: Excel file

Paid for by others
Companies
Industry, NAICS code, and company size All R&Da Paid for by
the companyb
Total Federal Domestic Foreignc All other
organizationsd
All industries, 21–33, 42–81 374,685 317,731 56,954 23,772 14,239 17,692 1,251
Manufacturing industries, 31–33 250,553 211,660 38,893 19,217 4,812 14,194 670
Chemicals, 325 73,575 64,165 9,410 212 1,484 i 7,605 109 i
Pharmaceuticals and medicines, 3254 64,628 55,983 8,644 147 1,414 i 6,976 107 i
Other 325 8,947 8,182 766 65 70 629 2
Machinery, 333 12,585 11,699 886 152 159 545 i 30
Computer and electronic products, 334 77,385 68,515 8,869 4,410 1,272 3,059 128
Electrical equipment, appliance, and components, 335 4,771 4,302 469 i 46 i 9 i 393 i 21 i
Transportation equipment, 336 51,275 32,905 18,371 14,325 1,587 2,104 355
Automobiles, bodies, trailers, and parts, 3361–63 22,042 19,293 2,749 D D 2,031 i D
Aerospace products and parts, 3364 26,645 12,272 14,373 12,904 1,110 D D
Other 336 2,588 1,340 1,249 D D D D
Manufacturing nec, other 31–33 30,962 30,074 888 i 72 i 301 i 488 i 27 i
Nonmanufacturing industries, 21–23, 42–81 124,132 106,071 18,061 4,555 9,427 i 3,498 581 i
Information, 51 70,748 70,075 674 25 142 503 4
Software publishers, 5112 33,495 33,098 397 7 50 341 0
Other 51 37,253 36,977 277 18 92 162 4
Finance and insurance, 52 7,331 7,237 94 0 * 8 i 86
Professional, scientific, and technical services, 54 37,595 20,845 16,750 4,496 9,174 i 2,619 461 i
Computer systems design and related services, 5415 15,747 13,255 2,492 i 583 432 1,434 43
Scientific R&D services, 5417 14,842 2,811 12,031 2,675 8,374 i 863 119 i
Other 54 7,006 4,779 2,227 i 1,238 368 i 322 299 i
Nonmanufacturing nec, other 21–23, 42–81 8,458 7,914 543 34 111 368 i 30
Size of company (number of domestic employees)
Micro companiese
5–9 1,581 i 1,044 i 536 i 263 i D D D
Small companies
10–19 4,958 i 3,887 i 1,071 i 393 i 394 i 235 i 49 i
20–49 9,662 i 7,473 i 2,189 899 598 i 490 i 202 i
Medium companies
50–99 9,298 7,728 1,570 451 427 667 25
100–249 14,875 11,722 3,153 839 716 1,481 117
Large companies
250–499 13,092 11,438 1,654 462 390 766 36
500–999 14,450 13,525 924 258 100 564 2
1,000–4,999 63,971 53,305 10,666 1,134 3,076 6,347 109
5,000–9,999 40,633 35,887 4,746 1,132 i D D D
10,000–24,999 65,594 53,384 12,210 3,994 3,767 i 4,315 134 i
25,000 or more 136,571 118,339 18,232 13,948 i 3,570 325 i 389 i

The U.S. federal government was the chief source of external funding for R&D (also referred to as R&D paid for by others) across all industries. Of the $57 billion paid for by others, the federal government accounted for $24 billion, most of which came from the Department of Defense ($16 billion) (data available in full set of data tables). Ninety-two percent of federal government funding went toward aerospace products and parts (North American Industry Classification System [NAICS] code 3364) ($13 billion), professional, scientific, and technical services (NAICS 54) ($5 billion), and computer and electronic products (NAICS 334) ($4 billion). Next among external funders were foreign companies ($18 billion)—including foreign parent companies of U.S. subsidiaries—and other U.S. companies ($14 billion) (table 2). (See " Survey Information and Data Availability" for information on the availability of data tables with full industry detail.)

R&D Performance, by Company Size

Micro-, small-, and medium-sized companies (5 to 249 domestic employees) performed 11% of the nation's total business R&D in 2016 (table 1). In these companies, the R&D-to-sales ratio (or R&D intensity) was 7.8% (table 1 and table 3). These companies accounted for 6% of sales and employed 9% of the 19.3 million employees who worked for R&D-performing or R&D-funding companies. They employed 20% of the 1.5 million employees engaged in business R&D in the United States.

TABLE 3. Sales, R&D intensity, and employment for companies that performed or funded business R&D, by selected industry and company size: 2016

NAICS = North American Industry Classification System; nec = not elsewhere classified.

a Dollar values for goods sold or services rendered by R&D-performing or R&D-funding companies located in the United States to customers outside of the company, including the U.S. federal government, foreign customers, and the company's foreign subsidiaries. Included are revenues from a company's foreign operations and subsidiaries and from discontinued operations. If a respondent company is owned by a foreign parent company, sales to the parent company and to affiliates not owned by the respondent company are included. Excluded are intracompany transfers, returns, allowances, freight charges, and excise, sales, and other revenue-based taxes.
b R&D intensity is the cost of domestic R&D paid for by the respondent company and others outside of the company and performed by the company divided by domestic net sales of companies that performed or funded R&D.
c Data recorded on 12 March represent employment figures for the year.
d Includes researchers, R&D managers, technicians, clerical staff, and others assigned to R&D groups.
e The Business R&D and Innovation Survey does not include companies with fewer than five employees.

NOTES: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Sales, R&D intensity, and total domestic employment statistics are representative of companies located in the United States that performed or funded R&D; R&D employment statistics are representative of companies located in the United States that performed R&D. Industry classification was based on dominant business code for domestic R&D performance, where available. For companies that did not report business codes, the classification used for sampling was assigned. Excludes data for federally funded research and development centers.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau, Business R&D and Innovation Survey, 2016.

Table 3 Source Data: Excel file

Domestic employment
(thousands)c
Industry, NAICS code, and company size Domestic net sales
(US$millions)a
R&D intensity
(%)b
Total R&Dd
All industries, 21–33, 42–81 9,191,871 4.1 19,293 1,522
Manufacturing industries, 31–33 5,396,816 4.6 9,879 912
Chemicals, 325 1,039,760 7.1 1,257 173
Pharmaceuticals and medicines, 3254 579,390 11.2 562 123
Other 325 460,370 1.9 695 50
Machinery, 333 296,633 4.2 824 78
Computer and electronic products, 334 786,351 9.8 1,336 264
Electrical equipment, appliance, and components, 335 148,671 3.2 306 28
Transportation equipment, 336 1,289,540 4.0 1,953 168
Automobiles, bodies, trailers, and parts, 3361–63 886,881 2.5 1,088 92
Aerospace products and parts, 3364 336,565 7.9 643 61
Other 336 66,094 3.9 222 15
Manufacturing nec, other 31–33 1,835,861 1.7 4,203 201
Nonmanufacturing industries, 21–23, 42–81 3,795,055 3.3 9,414 610
Information, 51 1,064,822 6.6 1,832 277
Software publishers, 5112 396,108 8.5 630 142
Other 51 668,714 5.6 1,202 135
Finance and insurance, 52 713,192 1.0 1,114 37
Professional, scientific, and technical services, 54 421,882 8.9 1,373 240
Computer systems design and related services, 5415 175,787 9.0 480 92
Scientific R&D services, 5417 66,620 22.3 264 79
Other 54 179,475 3.9 629 69
Nonmanufacturing nec, other 21–23, 42–81 1,595,159 0.5 5,095 56
Size of company (number of domestic employees)
Micro companiese
5–9 6,778 23.3 34 15
Small companies
10–19 25,795 19.2 111 37
20–49 100,067 9.7 323 75
Medium companies
50–99 113,696 8.2 413 69
100–249 271,388 5.5 764 101
Large companies
250–499 276,513 4.7 700 75
500–999 326,260 4.4 739 74
1,000–4,999 1,238,059 5.2 2,583 278
5,000–9,999 994,329 4.1 1,859 159
10,000–24,999 1,677,581 3.9 2,898 243
25,000 or more 4,161,406 3.3 8,869 395

Large companies with 250 to 24,999 domestic employees performed 53% of the nation's total business R&D in 2016, and their R&D intensity was 4.4%. They accounted for 49% of sales, employed 46% of those who worked for R&D-performing or R&D-funding companies, and employed 54% of R&D employees in the United States.

The largest companies (25,000 or more domestic employees) performed 36% of the nation's total business R&D in 2016, and their R&D intensity was 3.3%. They accounted for 45% of sales, employed 46% of those who worked for R&D-performing or R&D-funding companies, and employed 26% of R&D employees in the United States.

R&D Performance, by State

Business R&D is concentrated in a relatively small number of states. In 2016, companies reported $318 billion of domestic R&D paid for by the company. Businesses in California alone accounted for 33% of this amount (table 4). Other states with large amounts of business R&D paid for by companies' own funds in 2016 were Washington (6% of the national total), Massachusetts (6%), Michigan (5%), Texas (5%), New York (4%), New Jersey (4%), Illinois (4%), and Pennsylvania (4%).[2]

TABLE 4. Funds spent for business R&D performed in the United States, by state and source of funds: 2016
(Millions of U.S. dollars)

e = more than 50% of the cell value is imputed due to raking of state data; i = more than 50% of the estimate is a combination of imputation and reweighting to account for nonresponse.

a All R&D is the cost of domestic R&D paid for by the respondent company and others outside of the company and performed by the company.
b Includes data reported on Form BRDI-1 not allocated to a specific state, as well as data reported on Form BRDI-1(S) by multi-establishment companies. For single-establishment companies, data reported on Form BRDI-1(S) were allocated to the state in the address used to mail the survey form.

NOTES: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. Statistics are representative of companies located in the United States that performed or funded R&D. Excludes data for federally funded research and development centers.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau, Business R&D and Innovation Survey, 2016.

Table 4 Source Data: Excel file

State All R&Da Paid for by
the company
Paid for by
others
United States 374,685 317,731 56,954
Alabama 1,694 868 826
Alaska 34 e 27 e 7 e
Arizona 6,472 4,743 1,730
Arkansas 366 340 27
California 117,569 105,769 11,800
Colorado 4,355 3,542 813
Connecticut 7,987 6,101 1,886 i
Delaware 2,069 1,463 605
District of Columbia 328 230 98
Florida 6,273 4,441 1,832 i
Georgia 5,245 4,273 972 i
Hawaii 164 114 i 49
Idaho 1,590 1,398 192
Illinois 13,733 11,822 1,911
Indiana 5,949 4,988 961
Iowa 2,862 2,225 636
Kansas 2,204 1,469 735 i
Kentucky 1,070 752 317
Louisiana 274 228 45 i
Maine 290 261 29
Maryland 5,676 3,335 2,341
Massachusetts 21,560 18,084 3,476
Michigan 18,847 17,454 1,393
Minnesota 7,084 6,601 483
Mississippi 222 198 24
Missouri 5,958 i 3,466 2,492 i
Montana 140 121 19
Nebraska 604 491 114
Nevada 574 412 162
New Hampshire 1,919 767 1,151
New Jersey 15,715 12,902 2,813
New Mexico 487 323 164
New York 15,714 13,454 2,260
North Carolina 10,064 7,226 2,838 i
North Dakota 254 237 17
Ohio 8,892 6,366 2,526
Oklahoma 692 642 50 i
Oregon 6,523 6,316 207
Pennsylvania 12,300 11,161 1,138
Rhode Island 875 i 822 i 53
South Carolina 1,301 1,146 155
South Dakota 151 135 16 i
Tennessee 1,610 1,383 226
Texas 17,353 14,913 2,440
Utah 3,453 2,876 577
Vermont 248 230 17
Virginia 3,773 2,240 1,532
Washington 19,673 19,001 671
West Virginia 182 157 25
Wisconsin 4,972 4,387 585
Wyoming 172 164 8 i
Undistributed fundsb 7,173 5,664 1,509

Sales, R&D Intensity, and Employment of Companies that Performed or Funded R&D

U.S. companies that performed or funded R&D reported domestic net sales of $9 trillion in 2016 (table 3).[3] For all industries, the R&D intensity was 4.1%; for manufacturers, 4.6%; and for nonmanufacturers, 3.3%. Manufacturing industries with high levels of R&D intensity in 2016 were pharmaceuticals and medicines (NAICS 3254) (11.2%), computer and electronic products (NAICS 334) (9.8%), and aerospace products and parts (NAICS 3364) (7.9%). Among the nonmanufacturing industries, industries with high levels of R&D intensity were scientific R&D services (NAICS 5417) (22.3%), computer systems design and related services (NAICS 5415) (9.0%), and software publishers (NAICS 5112) (8.5%).

Businesses that performed or funded R&D employed 19.3 million people in the United States in 2016. Approximately 1.5 million (8%) were R&D employees.[4] Not surprisingly, industries with high levels of R&D intensity also had high numbers of R&D employees: computer and electronic products (NAICS 334) (264,000 R&D employees), pharmaceuticals and medicines (NAICS 3254) (123,000), and aerospace products and parts (NAICS 3364) (61,000). Nonmanufacturing industry groups with high numbers of R&D employees were software publishers (NAICS 5112) (142,000 R&D employees), computer systems design and related services (NAICS 5415) (92,000), and scientific R&D services (NAICS 5417) (79,000) (table 3).

Capital Expenditures

Companies that performed or funded R&D in the United States in 2016 spent $561 billion on assets with expected useful lives of more than 1 year (table 5). Of this amount, $25 billion (5%) was spent on structures, equipment, software, and other assets used for R&D: $15 billion by manufacturing industries and $10 billion by nonmanufacturing industries. Manufacturing industries with high levels of capital expenditures on assets used for R&D in 2016 were pharmaceuticals and medicines (NAICS 3254) ($3.5 billion, 14% of capital expenditures on assets used for R&D), semiconductor and other electronic products (NAICS 3344) ($2.0 billion, 8%), automobiles, bodies, trailers, and parts (NAICS 3361–63) ($1.4 billion, 6%), and aerospace products and parts (NAICS 3364) ($0.9 billion, 4%). Among the nonmanufacturing industries with high levels of capital assets used for R&D were software publishers (NAICS 5112) ($1.6 billion, 7%), telecommunications services (NAICS 517) ($1.6 billion, 6%), and computer systems design and related services (NAICS 5415) ($1.5 billion, 6%).

TABLE 5. Capital expenditures in the United States and for domestic R&D paid for and performed by the company, by type of expenditure, industry, and company size: 2016
(Millions of U.S. dollars)

i = more than 50% of the estimate is a combination of imputation and reweighting to account for nonresponse.

NAICS = North American Industry Classification System; nec = not elsewhere classified.

a Domestic R&D is the R&D paid for by the respondent company and others outside of the company and performed by the company.
b Capital expenditures are payments by a business for assets that usually have a useful life of more than 1 year. The value of assets acquired or improved through capital expenditures is recorded on a company's balance sheet. BRDIS statistics exclude the cost of assets acquired through mergers and acquisitions and purchased land.
c Capital expenditures for long-lived assets used in a company's R&D operations are not included in its R&D expense, but any depreciation recorded for those assets is included in its R&D expense. For 2016, depreciation associated with domestic R&D paid for and performed by the company was $12.5 billion and with domestic R&D performed by the company and paid for by others was $1.2 billion.
d Includes the cost of purchased or improved buildings and other facilities that are fixed to the land.
e Includes the cost of other capital expenditures, including purchased patents and other intangible assets, and expenditures not distributed among the categories shown.
f The Business R&D and Innovation Survey does not include companies with fewer than five employees.

NOTES: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Statistics are representative of companies located in the United States that performed or funded R&D. Industry classification was based on dominant business code for domestic R&D performance, where available. For companies that did not report business codes, the classification used for sampling was assigned. Excludes data for federally funded research and development centers.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau, Business R&D and Innovation Survey, 2016.

Table 5 Source Data: Excel file

Used for domestic R&Da
Selected industry, NAICS code, and company size Totalb Totalb,c Structuresd Equipment Capitalized
software
All other and
undistributede
All industries, 21–33, 42–81 560,900 25,248 3,072 11,839 6,793 3,543
Manufacturing industries, 31–33 235,923 14,948 2,471 8,376 1,850 2,251 i
Chemicals, 325 40,570 4,336 1,364 1,982 629 361
Pharmaceuticals and medicines, 3254 16,577 3,511 1,242 1,410 545 314
Other 325 23,993 825 122 572 84 47
Machinery, 333 11,037 1,096 85 825 101 85
Computer and electronic products, 334 35,960 4,441 149 2,812 528 953 i
Communication equipment, 3342 3,711 427 i 30 i 343 i 29 i 26 i
Semiconductor and other electronic products, 3344 16,786 i 1,965 i 47 i 1,087 i 100 i 731 i
Other 334 15,463 2,049 72 1,382 399 196
Electrical equipment, appliance, and components, 335 3,260 179 18 103 7 51
Transportation equipment, 336 66,588 2,513 600 1,235 250 427
Automobiles, bodies, trailers, and parts, 3361–63 45,894 1,444 103 884 181 275
Aerospace products and parts, 3364 17,904 890 494 277 63 55
Other 336 2,790 179 3 74 6 97
Manufacturing nec, other 31–33 78,508 2,383 255 1,419 335 374
Nonmanufacturing industries, 21–23, 42–81 324,977 10,299 602 3,463 i 4,943 1,292
Information, 51 95,151 4,807 288 1,843 2,027 649
Software publishers, 5112 13,541 1,642 176 907 185 374
Telecommunications services, 517 58,713 1,559 1 450 i 1,073 36 i
Other 51 22,897 1,606 111 486 769 239
Finance and insurance, 52 14,385 i 2,187 36 189 1,696 265
Professional, scientific, and technical services, 54 19,514 2,152 i 114 i 934 i 809 i 296 i
Computer systems design and related services, 5415 7,215 i 1,464 i 66 i 670 i 586 i 143 i
Scientific R&D services, 5417 1,552 348 39 186 16 107
Other 54 10,747 340 9 78 207 46
Nonmanufacturing nec, other 21–23, 42–81 195,927 1,153 164 497 411 82
Size of company (number of domestic employees)
Micro companiesf
5–9 556 i 75 9 44 6 i 16
Small companies
10–19 2,967 i 315 20 186 26 i 83
20–49 8,005 i 542 i 41 i 283 i 119 i 99
Medium companies
50–99 13,984 i 520 60 254 102 104
100–249 20,113 i 1,212 86 489 170 i 468
Large companies
250–499 26,216 i 1,337 116 597 371 253
500–999 17,807 1,110 66 i 546 279 218
1,000–4,999 64,733 4,208 606 1,967 1,136 499
5,000–9,999 53,985 2,849 445 1,466 587 i 351
10,000–24,999 105,334 5,326 804 1,928 1,532 1,062 i
25,000 or more 247,200 7,754 820 4,079 2,465 390 i

Survey Information and Data Availability

In this InfoBrief, money amounts are expressed in current U.S. dollars and are not adjusted for inflation. A company for BRDIS is defined as a business organization located in the United States, either U.S. owned or a U.S. affiliate of a foreign parent company, of one or more establishments under common ownership or control.

The sample for BRDIS was selected to represent all for-profit, nonfarm companies that were publicly or privately held and had five or more employees in the United States. Estimates produced from the survey and presented in this InfoBrief are restricted to companies that performed or funded R&D, either domestically or abroad. Because the statistics from the survey are based on a sample, they are subject to both sampling and nonsampling errors (see technical notes in the data tables reports at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvyindustry/).

For 2015, a total of 44,824 companies were sampled to represent the population of 2,029,436 companies; for 2016, a total of 44,861 companies were sampled, representing 1,485,151 companies. The representative population decreased primarily because the criteria for inclusion in the BRDIS sample was changed for 2016 in two ways. First, companies classified in the other nonmanufacturing (ONM) category with fewer than 10 employees, compared with fewer than 5 employees previously, were deemed out of scope because these companies account for negligible R&D. Second, regardless of employment size, a payroll threshold of $250,000 was previously used to identify in-scope companies. For 2016 the payroll threshold was removed except for companies for which employment was missing at the time of sampling. Combined, these two changes accounted for a decrease in population of approximately 459,000 companies; the rest of the decrease, approximately 85,000 companies, may have been due to various factors such as timing of updates to the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Register.

The actual numbers of reporting units in the sample that remained within the scope of the survey between sample selection and tabulation were 40,806 for 2015 and 42,122 for 2016. These lower counts represent the number of reporting units that were determined to be within the scope of the survey after all data collected were processed. Reasons for the reduced counts include mergers, acquisitions, and instances where companies had fewer than five paid employees in the United States or had gone out of business in the interim. Of these in-scope reporting units, 79.6% were considered to have met the criteria for a complete response to the 2015 survey; 80.2% met the 2016 complete response criteria. Coverage of the previous year's known positive R&D stratum for 2015 was 84.5%; the coverage rate for 2016 was 84.0%. Industry classification was based on the dominant business activity for domestic R&D performance where available. For reporting units that did not report business activity codes for R&D, the classification used for sampling was assigned.

The full set of data tables from this survey will be available in the report Business R&D and Innovation: 2016 (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvyindustry/). Individual data tables and tables with relative standard errors and imputation rates from the 2016 survey are available in advance of the full report. Statistics for new items added to the survey for 2016 are available in the full set of tables, including for royalty and licensing fees relating to R&D; R&D performed by U.S. universities, colleges, and academic researchers; R&D paid for by U.S. federal government agencies or laboratories and performed by others outside the respondent company; and revenue for the sale and licensing of utility patents.

Note that the 2016 cycle of BRDIS is the last cycle that collected data for business innovation activities. A separate, more comprehensive collection of innovation data, as part of the Annual Business Survey co-sponsored by NCSES and Census, has been undertaken and will produce statistics for 2017 and beyond. Beginning with the 2017 data collection, BRDIS—the Business R&D and Innovation Survey—will be the Business Research and Development Survey (BRDS).

Notes

[1] Raymond M. Wolfe, Research and Development Statistics Program, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite W14200, Alexandria, VA 22314 (rwolfe@nsf.gov; 703-292-7789).

[2] Below-state level data have been collected annually beginning with the 2008 cycle of BRDIS. The 2008 and 2009 cycles included the question "At what domestic location did your company perform the largest dollar amount of R&D" for R&D paid for and performed by the company. For 2010, the question was repeated and a new question covering R&D paid for by others was added. For 2011 and subsequent years, those questions were repeated and two questions covering the "second-largest dollar amount of R&D" were added.

[3] Determining the amount of domestic net sales and operating revenues was left to the reporting company. However, guidance was given to include revenues from foreign operations and subsidiaries and from discontinued operations and to exclude intracompany transfers, returns, allowances, freight charges, and excise, sales, and other revenue-based taxes.

[4] Employment statistics in this InfoBrief are head counts. Full-time equivalent statistics are available in the data tables. R&D employees include R&D scientists and engineers, their managers, and the technicians, technologists, and support staff members who work on R&D or who provide direct support to R&D activities.