Research & Development Trends

[Former Member]

     This is my first blog on SCN. I have chosen various countries’ expenditure patterns on Research & Development as my dataset from ‘United States Census Bureau’. The dataset contains country-wise statistics on   ‘Total R & D expenditure as a % of GDP,  R & D expenditure shared by  government,   R & D expenditure shared by Industry, Per capita expenditure on R & D and Expenditure on R & D education’.

Using SAP Lumira, I've analysed the data-set in following aspects:

1. Countries with highest R & D expenditures
2. Industry’s contribution towards R & D
3. Government’s contribution towards R & D
4. Per capita expenditure on R & D and
5. Expenditure  on R & D education

Let us begin our analysis,

1.  Countries with highest R & D expenditures

Here, we can see the top 5 countries in terms of maximum R & D expenditure (as a % of GDP) are Sweden, South Korea, Finland, Japan and Switzerland with 3.60, 3.47, 3.47, 3.44 and 2.90 % of GDP expenditures respectively.

2.  Industry’s contribution towards R & D

Here, we get an interesting picture, although Sweden is in top when it comes to R & D spending as an whole, but when it comes to the industry share in R & D spending, Luxembourg is on top with 79.72 % contributed by industry followed by Japan with 77.71%, South Korea with 73.65%, China with 70.37% and Switzerland with 69.73%.

3. Government's contribution towards R & D

Yet here, we get to explore another hidden fact with India standing on top with highest(80.81%) government contribution towards R & D followed by Russia with 62.62%, Poland with 58.61%, Brazil with 57.88% and Slovakia with 53.92%.

4. Per capita expenditure on R & D

Yet another interesting analysis here. Again it’s the turn of Sweden standing high with highest per capita expenditure on R & D (1,320$ in 2011) followed by Luxembourg (1,300$), United States (1,221$), Finland (1,206$) and Japan (1,157$).

5.  Expenditure on R & D education

Another hidden fact now. Sweden again stands first with highest expenditure (0.77 % of GDP) on R & D education followed by 2 new entries in our analysis so far i.e., Denmark (0.70% of GDP), Iceland (0.69 % of GDP) and as usual Switzerland (0.66 % of GDP)  and Finland (0.65% of GDP).

This analysis helps us to deduce the mindset of people and the cultural background of different countries. For example, in countries like Russia, Brazil and India (where I belong) people like to have a secured profession and they give much importance to family and relationships. They usually do not prefer taking new initiatives and innovations themselves unless sponsored, for the risk of failure because most of the people here fall in middle class. Usually, they risk less to go in an unconventional path as far as their career is concerned. On the other hand, in countries like Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, USA etc people love to take initiatives, challenges and they tend to do something innovative. Moreover, as most of the people here are above middle class, sustenance is not a concern. That is one of the reasons why we find that these are the countries where most of the innovations come from and many Fortune 500 companies have their roots here. But, in countries like India, majority of the large enterprises are either state run or foreign collaborated and most of the research in these countries pertain to either space or defense which are again government sponsored. This is one of the main reasons why we see maximum role of government in research of these countries contrary to the techie countries. However, trends are rapidly changing. Even in countries like India which is considered to be a land of culture, people are breaking their age old conventions and taking new initiatives, and therefore industry's contribution towards research is significantly improving on par with the governments'.