R&D can be measured by the expenditure on R&D performed by an organisation, or the funding received by an organisation for R&D work. These are often, but not always, the same.
You can read more on the Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, UK: 2022. This data provides an overview at regional level of where R&D is taking place.
Overall, Business Enterprise dominates R&D spending, with the East of England top of this category. London, the East of England and the South East come top of R&D spending, with almost double the total spend of any other region. The North East spends around 9 times less on R&D than London, whilst Yorkshire and The Humber and the East Midlands spend around a quarter of London's total.
London and the South East have the highest share of businesses in the UK at 19.5% and 14.8%, respectively. For this reason we expect their total business spend on R&D to be consistently larger than other regions. However, the roughly £1.5 billion higher spend in the East of England shows there is particularly intense investment in the region, since a comparatively smaller 9.9% of UK businesses are located there.
Note: Business count figures come from Table 4 of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK business; activity, size and location: 2024 statistical bulletin.
Country or region | Total | Government & UKRI | Higher Education | Business Enterprise | Private Non Profit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
North East | 1444 | 59 | 594 | 732 | 59 |
North West | 6501 | 211 | 1439 | 4831 | 20 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 3351 | 169 | 1217 | 1964 | 1 |
East Midlands | 3195 | 100 | 736 | 2357 | 2 |
West Midlands | 4904 | 83 | 972 | 3833 | 16 |
East of England | 12746 | 385 | 1447 | 10690 | 224 |
London | 13700 | 663 | 3769 | 8959 | 309 |
South East | 12400 | 1171 | 2395 | 8705 | 129 |
South West | 4772 | 515 | 977 | 3270 | 10 |
England makes up 89% of the UK's total R&D spend, which is similar to its 87% share of UK businesses. Unsurprisingly, it leads on R&D spending in each sub-category, with Scotland in second for each category.
Country or region | Total | Government & UKRI | Higher Education | Business Enterprise | Private Non Profit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 70698 | 3618 | 16277 | 49942 | 860 |
England | 63013 | 3356 | 13546 | 45341 | 770 |
Wales | 1595 | 44 | 587 | 959 | 5 |
Scotland | 4869 | 186 | 1867 | 2731 | 85 |
Northern Ireland | 1220 | 31 | 277 | 912 | null |