Research and development in the business enterprise sector, 2014, preliminary figures

Almost 18 100 R&D man-years were performed in 2014; 10 per cent more than in 2013. As the preliminary figures for 2014 show, the increase in the R&D expenditure and performed R&D man-years is the highest for more than 10 years.

The largest increase for manufacturing and services

Enterprises in service industries performed own R&D for NOK 12.7 billion, which is 12 per cent higher than the year before. This expenditure amounted to 51 per cent of the total R&D expenditure in the business enterprise sector in 2014. The corresponding share for the manufacturing industries was 37 per cent. The R&D expenditure for these industries was NOK 9.1 billion, which is 9 per cent more than the year before.

Overall for businesses, enterprises with less than 100 employees had an increase in R&D expenditure of 5 per cent, while the larger enterprises had a corresponding increase of 12 per cent.

However, there is considerable variation among the individual enterprises, regardless of industry and size group. Many enterprises reported higher figures for 2014 than 2013, but some of this increase is also due to reclassification of activity. Other companies reported significantly lower activity. It is worth noting that the 100 enterprises with the largest R&D activity in the previous survey as a whole had a stable R&D trend; only 1 per cent higher than in 2013. The 100 largest enterprises account for almost 60 per cent of total industrial R&D.

Increased operating expenses for R&D

The higher R&D expenditure is due to increased operating expenses for R&D. Labour costs accounted for 64 per cent of R&D expenditure in 2014, and increased by 11 per cent. Beyond wages and salaries of its own employees, NOK 2 billion was used for contracted R&D personnel. This is an increase of NOK 230 million, or 13 per cent. Other operating costs increased by 8 per cent and amounted to NOK 5.4 billion in 2014. The businesses invested NOK 1.5 billion in buildings, machinery and equipment for R&D, which is mostly unchanged compared with 2013.

Weak growth in purchases of R&D services

Many enterprises purchase R&D services from outside in addition to their own R&D activity. Enterprises acquire knowledge from other enterprises in industry, research institutes, universities and higher education institutions, both in Norway and abroad. Purchased R&D services in 2014 were almost NOK 6.3 billion; 2 per cent more than in 2013. The manufacturing enterprises purchased R&D services totalling NOK 1.7 billion; an increase of NOK 246 million or 17 per cent. There are some large enterprises with increases, but there are also small companies that contributed to the growth. Service industries have collectively experienced a rise of only NOK 64 million, while other industries (incl. oil and gas) had a decrease of NOK 166 million.

Growth in Norway's total R&D effort

The total R&D effort for Norway in 2014, including universities, higher education institutions and research institutes, was NOK 53.8 billion. This represents 1.71 per cent of GDP, compared with 1.65 per cent the year before. The share for the business enterprise sector amounted to 0.79 per cent and it is this sector that contributes to the increase. The increase in total R&D expenditure was 6.0 per cent (nominal) from 2013. More information about the total R&D is available at www.nifu.no.