U.S. R&D Increases in 2013, Outpaces GDP

At more than $456 billion, the value of research and development performed in the United States grew 4.8 percent from 2012 to 2013 according to new data from the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). Over that same one-year period, U.S. gross domestic product grew at just 3.7 percent.

Over the five-year period from 2008-2013, R&D increased at a rate of 2.3 percent annually, while gross domestic product increased at a rate of 2.6 percent annually. Over the previous five-year period from 2003-2008, R&D outpaced GDP growth, increasing at a rate of 6.8 percent annually compared to 5.0 percent annually.  According to NCSES, although in recent years data indicate that total R&D is growing faster than GDP, the longstanding trend of this type of growth has yet to return. 

The business sector performed between 68 percent and 74 percent of total R&D over the 20-year period from 1993-2013. In 2013, the business sector performed 70.7 percent of total R&D in 2013 and sourced 65.2 percent of total funds.  The federal government, which sourced 26.7 percent of R&D funds in 2013, performed just 10.9 percent of total R&D.

Universities and colleges, which performed 14.2 percent of total R&D in 2013, are especially important to basic research: 51 percent of the $80.5 billion in basic research performed in the United States in 2013 was done by universities and colleges. This summer, the SSTI Digest detailed long-term trends in basic research funding. In 2013, the federal government accounted for 47 percent of the $80.5 billion in total basic research expenditures, 37 percent of the $90.6 billion in total applied research expenditures, and 18% of the $285 billion in total development expenditures, suggesting its prominence remains as an important funder of research and development in the United States.