Summary

Table 3 summarises significant changes in R&D and other measures of business performance among the UK1000 over the last year. Key points are:

• R&D investment by the UK1000 increased by 9.2% over the previous year;
• the fastest growing sector was banking, which increased spending by 32%, followed by aerospace and defence (18%);
• pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies accounted for more than one third (36%) of all R&D investment in the UK1000;
• the four biggest sectors (pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, aerospace and defence, software and computer services, and banks) were also the biggest contributors to growth in R&D among the UK1000: together, these sectors accounted for over two thirds of the net change in R&D investment; and
• one half of the ten biggest sectors by R&D investment reported operating losses in 2008, with the biggest losses coming in the banking and fixed-line telecommunications sectors.

Table 4 summarises significant changes in R&D and other measures of business performance among the UK1000’s fastest growing sectors by R&D in 2008. Measured in absolute terms, these sectors invest significantly less in R&D than the UK’s leading sectors listed above. The large growth of R&D in the mining sector was driven by two companies, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Both firms also entered the list of Top 25 companies by R&D investment in the UK for the first time.

Table 3: Key sectoral trends across UK1000

Table 4: Fastest growing sectors in UK1000

R&D growth in the travel and leisure sector was spread among many companies, with TUI Travel increasing its investment the most (689%). The electricity company that spent most on R&D, Clipper Windpower, increased its investment by 114%. R&D as a percentage of capital expenditure was significantly smaller among the fastest growing sectors than among the three leading sectors – pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, aerospace and defence and software and computer services – according to absolute investment in R&D.