Metadata: R&D intensity
Source
Expertisecentrum Onderzoek en Ontwikkelingsmonitoring (ECOOM) (Centre for Research & Development Monitoring)
Definitions
R&D intensity: expenditure for research and development (R&D) as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). In compliance with the Europe 2020 objectives, the Government of the Flemish Region has committed itself to spending 3% of GDP on R&D, in order to reinforce Flanders’ competitive and innovative position.
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D or GERD (Gross Expenditure on Research and Development) can be broken down according to the sectors in which R&D is implemented:
- Businesses: BERD, or Business Expenditure on R&D: the private businesses component and the Collective Research Centres (COC) at the service of the businesses.
- Government agencies: GOVERD or Government Expenditure on R&D
- Higher Education: HERD or Higher Education Expenditure on R&D (which includes universities and university colleges, as well as research institutions associated with universities)
- Non-profit institutions: PNP or Non-Profit Organisations Expenditures on R&D (both semi-public and private organisations and international organisations)
Remarks on quality
There are two calculation methods:
- The most accurate figures come from the biennial R&D survey of the Centre for Research and Development Monitoring (survey of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)), surveying companies’ R&D efforts and R&D personnel, supplemented by the survey of the Department of Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI), which surveys all public institutions on their R&D efforts and personnel.
- In addition, there is the biennial “light” version based on the results of the European Innovation Questionnaire (CIS) for companies (for the year in which no OECD survey takes place), supplemented with figures for public research institutions based on a (not fully exhaustive) survey by the department of Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI) of the governments and higher education. Here, the largest Flemish R&D players (universities, university colleges, strategic research centres and some other research institutions) were surveyed about their R&D efforts. The surveyed institutions have historically been responsible for about 90% of R&D efforts in both cases (GOVERD and HERD). Collective research centres (BERD collective centres) and non-profit institutions (PNP) were not surveyed for the “light” version, given their rather small share in total Flemish R&D activity.
The international comparison must be done with caution. After all, for most countries no figures are yet available from the most recent R&D questionnaire. The reported figures are then based on (predictions from) the earlier questionnaires. Moreover, when recent figures are already available, they are often provisional or estimated.
The GDP as the denominator of this series is regularly adjusted to national and regional revisions.
Since the introduction of the measure whereby one can get a reduction on the withholding tax for employees involved in R&D activities, it appears that industries that tended to answer less easily in the past are now more willing to answer qualitatively to the R&D questionnaire.