Research and development#Business R&D

New product design and development is often a crucial factor in the survival of a company. In a global industrial landscape that is changing fast, firms must continually revise their design and range of products. This is necessary as well due to the fierce competition and the evolving preferences of consumers. Without an R&D program, a firm must rely on strategic alliances, acquisitions, and networks to tap into the innovations of others.

A system driven by marketing is one that puts the customer needs first, and produces goods that are known to sell.{{Cite news|url=https://hbr.org/1998/11/business-marketing-understand-what-customers-value|title=Business Marketing: Understand What Customers Value|last1=Anderson|first1=James C.|date=1998-11-01|work=Harvard Business Review|access-date=2019-02-06|last2=Narus|first2=James A.|issue=November–December 1998|issn=0017-8012}} Market research is carried out, which establishes the needs of consumers and the potential niche market of a new product. If the development is technology driven, R&D is directed toward developing products to meet the unmet needs.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

In general, research and development activities are conducted by specialised units or centres belonging to a company, or can be out-sourced to a contract research organisation, universities, or state agencies.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} In the context of commerce, "research and development" normally refers to future-oriented, longer-term activities in science or technology, using similar techniques to scientific research but directed toward desired outcomes and with broad forecasts of commercial yield.{{Cite web|url=http://chartsbin.com/view/41854|title=Research and Development Employees by Country|last=ChartsBin|website=ChartsBin|access-date=2019-02-06}}

Statistics on organizations devoted to "R&D" may express the state of an industry, the degree of competition or the lure of progress.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fax-DwAAQBAJ&q=Statistics+on+organizations+devoted+to+%22R&pg=PT659|title=Biotechnology Fundamentals|last=Khan|first=Firdos Alam|date=2018-09-03|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781498723459|language=en}} Some common measures include: budgets, numbers of patents or on rates of peer-reviewed publications. Bank ratios are one of the best measures, because they are continuously maintained, public and reflect risk.

In the United States, a typical ratio of research and development for an industrial company is about 3.5% of revenues; this measure is called "R&D intensity".{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} A high technology company, such as a computer manufacturer, might spend 7% or a pharmaceutical companies such as Merck & Co. 14.1% or Novartis 15.1%. Anything over 15% is remarkable, and usually gains a reputation for being a high technology company such as engineering company Ericsson 24.9%, or biotech company Allergan, which tops the spending table with 43.4% investment.All figures [http://www.innovation.gov.uk/rd_scoreboard/ UK R&D Scoreboard] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051027005836/http://www.innovation.gov.uk/rd_scoreboard/ |date=2005-10-27 }} {{As of|2006|lc=on}}. Such companies are often seen as credit risks because their spending ratios are so unusual.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

Generally such firms prosper only in markets whose customers have extreme high technology needs, like certain prescription drugs or special chemicals, scientific instruments, and safety-critical systems in medicine, aeronautics or military weapons. {{citation needed|date=March 2017}}The extreme needs justify the high risk of failure and consequently high gross margins from 60% to 90% of revenues.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} That is, gross profits will be as much as 90% of the sales cost, with manufacturing costing only 10% of the product price, because so many individual projects yield no exploitable product. Most industrial companies get 40% revenues only.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

On a technical level, high tech organizations explore ways to re-purpose and repackage advanced technologies as a way of amortizing the high overhead.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} They often reuse advanced manufacturing processes, expensive safety certifications, specialized embedded software, computer-aided design software, electronic designs and mechanical subsystems.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

Research from 2000 has shown that firms with a persistent R&D strategy outperform those with an irregular or no R&D investment program.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0MGICwAAQBAJ&q=Research+from+2000+has+shown+that+firms+with+a+persistent+R&pg=PA286|title=The SAGE Handbook of Research Management|last1=Dingwall|first1=Robert|last2=McDonnell|first2=Mary Byrne|date=2015-06-26|publisher=SAGE|isbn=9781473914452|language=en}}

File:Mercedes Benz Research Development North America (13896037060).jpg

Research and development are very difficult to manage, since the defining feature of research is that the researchers do not know in advance exactly how to accomplish the desired result. As a result, "higher R&D spending does not guarantee more creativity, higher profit or a greater market share".{{cite web|title=Aerospace and Defense: Inventing and Selling the Next Generation|url=http://csis.org/files/publication/090520_diig_aerospace.pdf|website=Center for Strategic and International Studies|publisher=Center for Strategic and International Studies, International Security Program|access-date=6 August 2017|pages=1|language=en|date=December 5, 2009|archive-date=28 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728100600/http://csis.org/files/publication/090520_diig_aerospace.pdf|url-status=dead}} Research is the most risky financing area because both the development of an invention and its successful realization carries uncertainty including the profitability of the invention. One way entrepreneurs can reduce these uncertainties is to buy the licence for a franchise, so that the know-how is already incorporated in the licence.{{Cite web|url=https://investor-partner.co.uk/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908111838/http://investor-partner.co.uk/business-dictionary/42/invention-finance|url-status=usurped|archive-date=8 September 2015|title=Invention Finance|website=investor-partner.co.uk}}

In general, it has been found that there is a positive correlation between the research and development and firm productivity across all sectors, but that this positive correlation is much stronger in high-tech firms than in low-tech firms.{{cite journal |last1=Ortega-Argiles |first1=Raquel |last2=Potters |first2=Lesley |last3=Vivarelli |first3=Marco |date=2011 |title=R&D and productivity: testing sectoral peculiarities using micro data |journal=Empirical Economics |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=817–839 |doi= 10.1007/s00181-010-0406-3|hdl=10419/35059 |s2cid=59130979 |url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3338 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal|last1=Ortega-Argiles|first1=Raquel|last2=Piva|first2=Mariacristina|last3=Vivarelli|first3=Marco|author-link3=Marco Vivarelli|date=2011|title=Productivity Gains from R&D Investment: Are High-Tech Sectors Still Ahead?|journal=IZA Discussion Papers|publisher=IZA|issue=5975|pages=1–22}} In research done by Francesco Crespi and Cristiano Antonelli, high-tech firms were found to have "virtuous" Matthew effects while low-tech firms experienced "vicious" Matthew effects, meaning that high-tech firms were awarded subsidies on merit while low-tech firms most often were given subsidies based on name recognition, even if not put to good use.{{cite journal |last1=Crespi |first1=Francesco |last2=Antonelli |first2=Cristiano |date=2011 |title=Matthew Effects and R&D Subsidies: Knowledge Cumulability in High-Tech and Low-Tech Industries |journal=Working Papers |publisher=Università degli Studi Roma Tre |issue=140 |pages=1–24 }} While the strength of the correlation between R&D spending and productivity in low-tech industries is less than in high-tech industries, studies have been done showing non-trivial carryover effects to other parts of the marketplace by low-tech R&D.{{cite journal |last=Mendonca |first=Sandro |date=2009 |title=Brave Old World: Accounting for 'High-Tech' Knowledge in 'Low-Tech' Industries |journal=Research Policy |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=470–482 |doi= 10.1016/j.respol.2008.10.018}}

Business R&D is risky for at least two reasons. The first source of risks comes from R&D nature, where R&D project could fail without residual values. The second source of risks comes from takeover risks, which means R&D is appealing to bidders because they could gain technologies from acquisition targets.{{Cite journal|last1=Bena |first1=Jan |last2=Kai |first2=Li |date=2014|title=Corporate innovations and mergers and acquisitions.|journal=The Journal of Finance |volume=69 |issue=5|pages=1923–1960|doi=10.1111/jofi.12059 |hdl=10.1111/jofi.12059 |hdl-access=free }} Therefore, firms may gain R&D profit that co-moves with takeover waves, causing risks to the company which engages in R&D activity.{{Cite journal |doi=10.2308/accr-51270|title=The R&D Premium and Takeover Risk|journal=The Accounting Review|volume=91|issue=3|pages=955–971|year=2016|last1=Lin|first1=Ji-Chai|last2=Wang|first2=Yanzhi (Andrew)|hdl=10397/65000 |hdl-access=free}}

File:1953- Funding for research and development - US.svgGlobal R&D management is the discipline of designing and leading R&D processes globally, across cultural and lingual settings, and the transfer of knowledge across international corporate networks.Chiesa, V. (2001). R&D Strategy and Organisation, Imperial College Press

{{further|Public research and development}}

{{See also|Federally funded research and development centers}}

Former President Barack Obama requested $147.696 billion for research and development in FY2012, 21% of which was destined to fund basic research.{{Cite book|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41098.pdf|title=Federal Research and Development Funding: FY2011|publisher=Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service|year=2011|editor-last=Sargent|editor-first=John F Jr|oclc=1097445714}} According to National Science Foundation in U.S., in 2015, R&D expenditures performed by federal government and local governments are 54 and 0.6 billions of dollars.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/assets/1038/research-and-development-u-s-trends-and-international-comparisons.pdf|title=Research and Development: U.S. Trends and International Comparisons, National Science Foundation.}} The federal research and development budget for fiscal year 2020 was $156 billion, 41.4% of which was for the Department of Defense (DOD).{{Cite web|date=17 December 2020|title=Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2021|url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46341|access-date=20 February 2021}} DOD's total research, development, test, and evaluation budget was roughly $108.5 billion.{{Cite web|date=February 2020|title=RDT&E Programs (R-1)|url=https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2021/fy2021_r1.pdf|access-date=20 February 2021|website=Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller)}}

File:The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (9416811752).jpg|The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California

File:Learning Research and Development Center, Pitt.jpg|Learning Research and Development Center, Pittsburg

File:Mercedes Benz Research Development North America (13896049248).jpg|Mercedes Benz Research Development North America

File:National Museum of the U.S. Air Force-Research and Development Gallery.jpg|National Museum of the U.S. Air Force-Research and Development Gallery

{{See also|Science and technology in Israel}}

Israel is the world leader in spending on R&D as a percentage of GDP as of 2022, spending 6.02%.{{Cite web |title=R&D as a percentage of GDP by country 2022 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/732269/worldwide-research-and-development-share-of-gdp-top-countries/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Statista |language=en}} According to CSIS, During the 1970s and 1980s Israel initially built up Israel's research infrastructure through various programs, often in the defence industry. In 1984, a law for Encouragement of Research and Development in Industry encouraged the commercial sector to invest in R&D in Israel as well as empowered the Office of Chief Scientist In the 1980s to 1992, the Chief scientist of Israel significantly expanded R&D subsidies in the Israeli industrial sector.{{Cite web |title=Sustaining Israel's Innovation Economy {{!}} Perspectives on Innovation {{!}} CSIS |url=https://www.csis.org/blogs/perspectives-innovation/sustaining-israels-innovation-economy |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=www.csis.org |language=en}} Israel invested in the creation of clusters of startups in the high-tech sector as well as venture capital investments. In 1993, Israel initiated the Yozma program, which led to the doubling of value of Israel's 10 new venture capital funds in 3 years. In the late 1990s, Israel was second only to the US in private equity as a share of the general economy. The high tech sector in Israel, known as Silicon Wadi, which earned Israel the nickname - Start-up Nation, was ranked the 4th leading startup ecosystem in the world by Startup genome with a value of $253billion in 2023.{{Cite web |last=Genome |first=Startup |title=Startup Genome |url=https://startupgenome.com/ecosystems/tel-aviv |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Startup Genome |language=en}}

File:Microsoft Israel R&D Center LTD. (4).jpg|Microsoft Israel R&D Center

File:General Motors R&D center, Herzliya.jpg|General Motors R&D, Israel

File:Technion Computer Science Faculty.jpg|Technion, Computer Science faculty

File:Image-Weizmann Institute edit.jpg|Weizmann Institute, koffler accelerator

File:AstroRad NASA.jpg|Israeli StemRad astronaut anti radiation suit, picture by NASA

Europe is lagging behind in R&D investments from the past two decades.{{According to whom|date=July 2024}} The target of 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) was meant to be reached by 2020, but the current amount is below this target. This also causes a digital divide among countries since only a few EU Member States have R&D spending.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-28 |title=Innovation overview 2023 |work=European Investment Bank |url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/innovation-overview-2023 |language=EN}}

Research and innovation in Europe are financially supported by the programme Horizon 2020, which is open to participation worldwide.{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-1085_en.htm|title=European Commission – PRESS RELEASES – Press release – Horizon 2020 – the EU's new research and innovation programme|website=europa.eu}}

A notable example is the European environmental research and innovation policy, based on the Europe 2020 strategy which will run from 2014 to 2020,{{Cite web|url=http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-11-848_en.htm?locale=en|title=European Commission – PRESS RELEASES – Press release – Horizon 2020: Commission proposes €80 billion investment in research and innovation, to boost growth and jobs|website=europa.eu|language=en|access-date=2017-12-12}} a multidisciplinary effort to provide safe, economically feasible, environmentally sound and socially acceptable solutions along the entire value chain of human activities.{{Cite web|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02013R1291-20150704|title=EUR-Lex – 02013R1291-20150704 – EN – EUR-Lex|website=eur-lex.europa.eu|language=en|access-date=2017-03-16}}

Firms that have embraced advanced digital technology devote a greater proportion of their investment efforts to R&D. Firms who engaged in digitisation during the pandemic report spending a big portion of their expenditure in 2020 on software, data, IT infrastructure, and website operations.{{Cite book |url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/digitalisation-in-europe-2021-2022 |title=Digitalisation in Europe 2021–2022: Evidence from the EIB Investment Survey |date=2022-05-05 |publisher=European Investment Bank |isbn=978-92-861-5233-7 |language=EN}}{{Cite web |title=Press corner |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/home/en |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=European Commission – European Commission |language=en}} A 2021/2022 survey found that one in every seven enterprises in the Central, Eastern and South Eastern regions (14%) may be classed as active innovators — that is, firms that spent heavily in research and development and developed a new product, process, or service — however this figure is lower than the EU average of 18%. In 2022, 67% of enterprises in the same region deployed at least one sophisticated digital technology, and 69% EU firms did the same.{{Cite book |url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/20220265-econ-eibis-2022-cesee |title=EIB Investment Survey 2022 – CESEE overview |date=2023-01-11 |publisher=European Investment Bank |isbn=978-92-861-5435-5 |language=EN}}

As of 2023, European enterprises account for 18% of the world's top 2 500 R&D corporations, but just 10% of new entrants, compared to 45% in the United States and 32% in China.{{Cite book |url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/20230323-investment-report-2023 |title=EIB Investment Report 2023/2024: Transforming for competitiveness |date=2024-02-07 |publisher=European Investment Bank |isbn=978-92-861-5648-9 |language=EN}}

As of 2024, the electronics sector leads in R&D investment, with 28% of its total investment dedicated to it. This is followed by textiles (19%), digital (18%), and aerospace (15%). Other sectors allocate less than 10% of their total investment to R&D.{{Cite book |url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/20230325-post-covid-recovery-and-green-transition-an-ecosystem-view |title=Post-COVID recovery and green transition: An ecosystem view |date=2024-05-08 |publisher=European Investment Bank |isbn=978-92-861-5617-5 |language=EN}}

While 17% of the world’s top R&D investors are based in the European Union, they accounted for only 1% of acquisitions involving EU-based companies between 2013 and 2023.{{Cite web |title=The 2023 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard |url=https://iri.jrc.ec.europa.eu/scoreboard/2023-eu-industrial-rd-investment-scoreboard |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=IRI}}{{Cite web |title=The scale-up gap: Financial market constraints holding back innovative firms in the European Union |url=https://www.eib.org/the-scale-up-gap |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=European Investment Bank |language=en}}

File:Secop R&D Center in Gleisdorf Austria.jpg|Secop R&D Center in Gleisdorf Austria

File:IBM Germany Research & Development Client Center 03.jpg|IBM Germany Research & Development

In 2015, research and development constituted an average 2.2% of the global GDP according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.{{Cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS|title=Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) {{!}} Data|website=data.worldbank.org|language=en-us|access-date=2017-12-12}}

By 2018, research and development constituted an average 1.79% of the global GDP according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Countries agreed in 2015 to monitor their progress in raising research intensity (SDG 9.5.1), as well as researcher density (SDG 9.5.2), as part of their commitment to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. However, this undertaking has not spurred an increase in reporting of data. On the contrary, a total of 99 countries reported data on domestic investment in research in 2015 but only 69 countries in 2018. Similarly, 59 countries recorded the number of researchers (in full-time equivalents) in 2018, down from 90 countries in 2015.{{cite book |editor1-last=Schneegans |editor1-first=S. |editor2-last=Straza |editor2-first=T. |editor3-last=Lewis |editor3-first=J. |title=UNESCO Science Report: the Race Against Time for Smarter Development. |date=11 June 2021 |publisher=UNESCO |location=Paris |isbn=978-92-3-100450-6 |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377433/PDF/377433eng.pdf.multi}}

{{Bar chart

| title = Top countries by R&D spending{{Cite web|url=http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SCN_DS&lang=en#|title=Science,technology and innovation|website=data.uis.unesco.org}}

| label_type = Country |

| data_type = R&D as percentage of GDP

| data_max = 6

| label1 = Israel | data1 = 5.44

| color1 = #99ccff

| label2 = Korea | data2 = 4.81

| color2 = #99ccff

| label3 = Sweden | data3 = 3.53

| color3 = #99ccff

| label4 = Belgium | data4 = 3.48

| color4 = #99ccff

| label5 = United States | data5 = 3.45

| color5 = #99ccff

| label6 = Japan | data6 = 3.26

| color6 = #99ccff

| label7 = Austria | data7 = 3.20

| color7 = #99ccff

| label8 = Switzerland | data8 = 3.15

| color8 = #99ccff

| label9 = Germany | data9 = 3.14

| color9 = #99ccff

| label10 = Denmark | data10 = 2.96

| color10 = #99ccff

| label11 = Finland | data11 = 2.94

| color11 = #99ccff

| label12 = Iceland | data12 = 2.47

| color12 = #99ccff

| label13 = China | data13 = 2.40

| color13 = #99ccff

| label14 = France | data14 = 2.35

| color14 = #99ccff

| label15 = Netherlands | data15 = 2.29

| color15 = #99ccff

| label16 = Norway | data16 = 2.28

| color16 = #99ccff

| label17 = Slovenia | data17 = 2.15

| color17 = #99ccff

| label18 = Czechia | data18 = 1.99

| color18 = #99ccff

| label19 = Singapore | data19 = 1.89

| color19 = #99ccff

| label20 = Australia | data20 = 1.83

| color20 = #99ccff

}}

• Basic research
• Demonstration
• Industrial laboratory
• Innovation
• List of business and finance abbreviations
• List of companies by research and development spending
• List of countries by research and development spending
• Neglected tropical disease research and development
• Prototype
• Science of science policy
• Science policy
• Technological revolution
• Technology life cycle

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| author = Schneegans, S., T. Straza and J. Lewis (eds)

| publisher = UNESCO

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| documentURL = https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377433/PDF/377433eng.pdf.multi

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Category:Innovation

Category:Product development

Development