Statistical analyses 158
R&D-, Innovation- and IPR statistics for the Norwegian business enterprise sector 2016
- There is still growth in R&D activity in the business sector. In 2016 the R&D costs amounted to NOK 29.5 billion, 6.1 percent
higher compared with 2015. However, the growth is more moderate than the high growth in the two previous years (2014 and 2015).
- Growth in the businesses’ R&D activity in real terms has been stronger than in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in recent years,
resulting in increased R&D as a share of GDP. The share was 0.71 per cent in 2010 and 0.95 in 2016. As share of GDP for mainland
Norway, the proportion has increased too.
- The growth in the business sector's R&D activity in Norway has been strong also in an international context. In particular,
the R&D has grown stronger than in other Nordic countries in recent years. But R&D as share of GDP is still lowest in Norway
in the Nordic countries.
- The overall R&D effort of the industry as a whole has sustained long-term growth. But manufacturing's share of the R&D costs
has gradually declined, reaching 34 per cent in 2016. Conversely, service industries have increased their share of R&D efforts
to 54 per cent. A large part of the change between manufacturing and services over time is real, in the sense that the manufacturing
activity is reduced or declined, while new service industries have grown. However, part of the change between industry and
services is also due to reclassification of enterprises from manufacturing to services.
- R&D activity is highly dominated by the largest enterprises. 31 per cent of R&D man-years were carried out in enterprises
with at least 500 employees in 2016, but these enterprises accounted for only 4 per cent of the number of enterprises with
R&D.
- In addition to performing own R&D, many companies purchase R&D services from other market players. The industry's total cost
of purchased R&D amounted to NOK 7.0 billion in 2016. There is a big difference in the type of external actors from which
the enterprises purchase the R&D services from. Purchases in Norway are largely done either from other Norwegian enterprises
or research institutes, universities and colleges. Purchases from Norwegian units in their own enterprise group account for
a small amount. On the other hand, deliveries from foreign units in their own group constitute a high proportion of purchases
from abroad.
- 65 per cent of Norwegian enterprises reported having innovation activity in the period 2014-2016, a clearly higher activity
than in the period 2012-2014.
- Development of new products, product innovation, is increasingly important for earnings for Norwegian enterprises. The enterprises
reported that 6.8 percent of total sales in 2014-2016 were based on product innovations. This is an increase from 2012-2014,
when the share was 5.9 percent.
- Small businesses collaborate most with customers and suppliers, while large companies have more collaboration with the research
community such as universities, colleges and institutes.
- In 2016, the Norwegian Patent Office received a total of 2 062 patent applications, an increase of 14 per cent from the previous
year. Of these, 1 195 applications were submitted by Norwegian applicants, an increase of 6.5 per cent from the previous year.
7 out of 10 of the Norwegian applications in 2016 came from enterprises.
- Trade mark registrations have seen a solid increase in recent years, though with a slight decline in 2016. A total of 15 750
applications were delivered this year, down 6 per cent from the year before. Norwegian companies submitted 3 841 applications,
ie one fourth of the applications, and an increase of 3.5 per cent.
- 1 229 applications for design protection were registered in 2016, which is on par with the previous years. 15 percent of the
applications were submitted from Norwegian enterprises.
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