U.S. R&D investment totaled nearly $293 billion in 2000 constant dollars (or $340 billion in current dollars), more than any other nation and more than all other
G7
countries combined.
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Why is this indicator important?
One measure of a nation's level of commitment to innovation is the amount of money invested in R&D activities by all sectors.
Key Observations
The United States has led all nations in R&D expenditures for the past two decades. There has been a steady increase of R&D expenditures for the United States over time, with a rate comparable to that of Japan and exceeding all others except for the recent acceleration of China.
After a worldwide slowing in R&D expenditures in the early 1990s, R&D spending rebounded in the late 1990s in several G7 countries, with the United States experiencing the most robust growth.
Related Discussion
The United States ranks second among G7 countries in the share of gross domestic product (GDP) devoted to R&D. (See
Figure 17
in this Digest for details.)
When adjusting to factor-in the lower costs of performing R&D in the developing world (using Purchasing Power Parity values,
PPP), China is approximately the third largest R&D performer in the world after the US and Japan. (SEI 2008
Appendix Table 4-2,
Figure 4-15;
UIS).