Innovation drives economic growth. It makes people and places better off
by creating modern, productive businesses and higher paid, more meaningful
work. Research and Development makes innovation possible. Businesses and
governments spend money on R&D to create and test new ideas.
In the UK, that spending is spread unevenly. This tool visualises the
current distribution of R&D spending around the country, showing where the
winners and losers are and the state of those local economies.
The UK government wants to make big increases to R&D spending and hopes
businesses will spend more too. This will boost the country’s longstanding
low productivity and play an important role in recovery after COVID-19.
How and where should this new money be spent? The
Design the Future tool
lets you experiment with different priorities, and shows you the effect
this could have on places across the country. You can
see our methodology here.
The UK public sector spend was 0.55
per cent of GDP (£10.8 billion) on R&D in 2016.
The UK private sector spend was 1.13 per
cent of GDP (£22.1 billion) on R&D in 2016.
business sector spend (£ per person)
public sector spend (£ per person)
750
700
650
600
550
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
Average public sector spend
Average business sector spend
Private sector spend (£ per person)
Public sector spend (£ per person)
East Midlands
352
89
East Midlands
East of England
720
208
East of England
London
263
299
London
North East
115
124
North East
North West
326
114
North West
Northern Ireland
259
90
Northern Ireland
Scotland
199
234
Scotland
South East
522
219
South East
South West
273
120
South West
Wales
140
91
Wales
West Midlands
398
83
West Midlands
Yorkshire and the Humber
139
120
Yorkshire and the Humber
How is R&D spending distributed across the UK today? Use the toggles on the left to map the intensity of Private Sector and Public Sector spending in regions across the country. Use the toggles on the right to compare Absolute and Per Capita measures. When you’re done, scroll down to find out more and design your prefered future scenario.
The Southeast and East of England are research intensive regions, with high investment by the state and significant business spending too. These areas have some of the UK’s most productive companies and highest paying jobs. In an ideal world, all regions of the UK would be like this.
By contrast, North-East England, Yorkshire and the Humber, Wales and Northern Ireland fare poorly, with low levels of innovation spending in absolute terms by both public and private actors. Though in per capita terms the gap seems smaller, there is a clear difference. Less innovative businesses and low pay characterise these regions.
London, and the sub-regions containing Oxford and Cambridge, account for 46 per cent of total public and charitable spending on R&D. The region has many research intensive universities, as well as much of the country’s most innovative businesses. This causes problems too, intensifying economic growth in places where housing is expensive and infrastructure stretched.
London and Scotland stand out as recipients of above average levels of state investment but below average business investment. This is unusual in comparison to our neighbours overseas where this approach acts as an economic development lever. Both London and Scotland are relatively prosperous regions of the UK.
In the East and West Midlands and North West England, business investment in R&D is at or above the UK average, despite low levels of public support. This implies an active R&D landscape not getting enough state support. Increased public spending on R&D here could leverage the benefits of private spending still further.
Design the future
Set your priorities for assigning R&D spending in the UK and see how
it impacts on where money is spent on R&D by the government in the
graph above.
You can also explore the priorities of the report authors: