U.S. R&D Support Rises In 2013

Spending on R&D in the U.S. rose to an all-time high of $453 billion in 2013, up $21 billion from 2012, according to a new NSF report. This comes after almost flat spending in this area during the years immediately after the 2008 recession. Most of the increase comes from improved R&D spending by businesses, while federal funding has been flat or even declined, the report says. Businesses continue to be the largest source of R&D funds in the U.S. at 65%, or $297 billion, followed by the federal government with 27%, or $122 billion. Colleges and universities, nonprofits, and state and local governments round out the supporters of U.S. R&D. The vast majority of this spending went to development of products at $285 billion, or 63%. Basic research received $81 billion, or 18% of the funding, and applied research $91 billion, or 20%. The amount of R&D spending compared with the U.S. gross domestic product—also called R&D intensity—rose to 2.72%, which remains lower than the peak of 2.81% in 2009.