Business R&D Survey FAQs About the Survey

About the Survey

12. What information does the Business R&D Survey Collect?

The Business R&D Survey collects the following information from companies:

Financial information about R&D the companies pay for (R&D expenses)
Financial and technical information about R&D that is paid for by others such as contract R&D or R&D funded by a government grant
Information about the companies' R&D employees
Information about the companies' intellectual property, and technology transfer activities.

13. Who will use the data from this survey?

Because R&D and innovation are so important to competitiveness in today's economy many companies and organizations are very interested in analyzing data from this survey. Some of these data users include:

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The BEA will include R&D in its system of national accounts which measure the economic well-being of the country. The data from this survey are a key input into these accounts, which feed into the estimates of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The White House. In 2006 The White House issued the American Competitiveness Initiative to "increase investments in research and development, strengthen education, and encourage entrepreneurship." Data on R&D are delivered to The White House and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for policy uses.
National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF produces a series of publications containing R&D data. These include the biennial National Science Board report, Science and Engineering Indicators, the National Patterns of R&D Resources series, the S&E State Profile series, the annual Research and Development in Industry, and the forthcoming Research and Development in Business series.
Congress. Members of congress use R&D data to inform their decisions on policies intended to influence investment in innovation such as the R&D tax credit.
Trade and professional organizations. A wide range of organizations use R&D data to analyze trends in their industries, benchmark the performance of their members, develop forecasts, and evaluate public policy.
Media. The media use these data for news reports and background information on the state of science and technology in the economy.
Business executives. Private businesses use these data to measure market share, analyze business potential, benchmark performance against industry averages, and plan investments.

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