The Business Expenditure on Research and Development is an annual survey whose main purpose is to supply data for policy purposes on Science and Technology, of which Research and Development is an important part. It uniquely provides information on total Research and Development expenditure in the UK by business enterprises, total Research and Development employment and sources of funds. Data are used on a regular basis by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT) for international comparisons in their publications. Linking to other business studies These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.Postcodes for data up to 2017 are available only on special request. Data up to 2021 for UK and Northern Ireland are available only if approved by NISRA.Latest Edition InformationFor the thirteenth edition (May 2025), the 2022 and 2023 data have been added. The Reporting Units surveyed receive either a 'long form' or 'short form'. The long form asks for information on:in-house expenditure on Research and Development:broken down by product group and purpose (civil or defence)broken down by funding sources: central government; private industry and public corporations; overseas EC programmes; overseas; own funds; othercurrent expenditure broken down by basic research; applied research; and experimental researchcapital expenditure broken down by land and buildings; and plant and machineryResearch and Development commissioned outside the companynumber of employees working on Research and Development broken down by scientists and engineers; technicians; othersSmaller firms receive a short form. This only asks for a breakdown of Research and Development by civil and defence for three questions. It requests aggregate figures for Intramural Research and Development (including both current and capital expenditure), purchasing of Research and Development (work conducted outside the company, funded by the business) and average employment on Research and Development (number of full time equivalents). Figures are constructed for those that filled in the short form to cover all the variables covered by the long form. For certain variables, values are imputed from third party sources or estimated rather than returned by respondents. All the un-sampled firms have figures imputed for the entire variable list.