Research and innovation in Scotland
Scientific research and innovation drive the economy, create and innovation across public services, universities, colleges jobs and enrich and advance our society. In recognition of and business, as well as attracting global investment. But this, there is broad consensus across the political spectrum what does delivering this target look like for Scotland? to increase total investment in UK research and development (R&D). The UK government has committed to ensure that This document provides an insight into the current total investment in UK R&D reaches 2.4% of UK GDP by 2027. research and innovation landscape in Scotland to inform The Royal Society is calling for investment in R&D to reach discussions over how people across Scotland can have 3% of GDP by 2030. To achieve this, the UK must create a the opportunity to contribute to and share the benefits vibrant environment that fosters and encourages research of R&D investment in the UK.
How much is spent on R&D activity in Scotland?
FIGURE 1
R&D spend in Scotland1.
8.2% of the UK’s population £2.7bn 7% of £498 is based in Scotland2. in 2018 UK total per capita
Who performs R&D in Scotland?
FIGURE 2
Percentage distribution of R&D spend in Scotland and UK wide3.
Government Private Government Private and UKRI non-profit and UKRI non-profit 7% 1% 7% 2%
Higher Higher Education Education 42% Scotland 24% UK wide £2.7bn £37.1bn
Business Business 50% 68%
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SCOTLAND – MAY 2021 1 Where does R&D take place in Scotland?
FIGURE 3
Map of R&D activity in Scotland4.
KEY
Universities Science parks Business incubators and accelerators Innovation centres
35,560 workplaces in the science and technology sector5
19 universities6
7 27 colleges Inverness 1 5 2
Aberdeen 10 science parks8
2 2 15% of the UK’s Dundee research infrastructures9 2 1 1 1 1 Stirling 1 1 38 business incubators 1 Falkirk and accelerators10 2 Motherwell East Kilbride 1 11 research pools11 7 5 3 6 17 6 6
Glasgow Edinburgh
7 innovation centres12
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SCOTLAND – MAY 2021 2 How is R&D in Scotland funded and supported?
R&D is funded and supported in many different ways. This includes direct investment from public, private, charitable and overseas sources, as well as indirect measures that encourage further private investment such as R&D tax credits.
FIGURE 4
Examples of R&D funders in Scotland.
Higher education funding councils13 EU Framework Programmes14 R&D tax credits15 2018 – 2019 Signed for in 2018 2017 – 2018 £285 million £64 million £175 million £52 per capita £12 per capita £32 per capita UK average: UK average: £528 per active business £31 per capita £8 per capita UK average: 13% of UK 11% of UK 4% of UK £56 per capita share share share
Research councils16 Innovate UK17 The Royal Society18 Awards started in 2018 2018 – 2019 2019 – 2020
£386 million £65 million £6.3 million £718 per capita £6 per capita UK average: £59 per active business £53 per capita UK average: 10% of UK 4% of UK £11 per capita 9.7% of UK share share share
FIGURE 5
How much did each of the research councils invest in Scotland in 2018?19
£133m 130 26% 120 24% 110 22% 100 20% 90 18% 16% 80 16% 70 13% 14% 12% 12% 60 11% 11% 12% 50 10% council in 2018
in 2018 (£ million) £39m 40 7% £34.2m 8% 30 6% % of funding awarded to £21.6m Scotland from each research
Total value of grants awarded to Total £17m £17.3m 20 £15.8m 4% Scotland from each research council 10 2% 0 0% Science and Medical Arts and Natural Engineering and Economic Biotechnology and Technology Research Humanities Environment Physical Sciences and Social Biological Sciences Facilities Council Research Research Research Council Research Research Council Council Council Council Council
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SCOTLAND – MAY 2021 3 There is no R&D without people
A thriving R&D environment in Scotland requires a talented workforce to perform research and young people in the pipeline who are equipped with the skills they will need in the future economy.
FIGURE 6
A snapshot of Highers being taken in Scotland20.
KEY 20 19.1% Students in Scotland 15
10% 10
5.4% 5.4% 5 4.1% 4.5% % of Higher entries 2.8% 3.7% 2.7% 1.7% 1.8% 0.3% 0
Music Biology English French History Physics Chemistry Computing Economics Geography Mathematics Art and design Subject
FIGURE 7
What are undergraduates studying at Scottish universities?21
% students studying % students studying STEM subjects: STEM subjects: 49% (85,275) 45%
% students Total studying social % students studying science subjects: students in social science subjects: UK national 13% (22,475) Scotland 14% average 173,040*
% students studying arts % students studying arts & humanities subjects: & humanities subjects: 20% (35,430) 21%
* This number does not include students studying at the Open University who are based in Scotland. Note: There is no single official definition of which subjects make up the categories of ‘STEM’ (science, technology, engineering and maths), ‘arts and humanities’, or ‘social sciences’. The HESA science grouping includes subjects like medicine, nursing and agriculture that may not be included in other definitions of STEM. For the purpose of this analysis, ‘social sciences’ includes HESA subject codes B and C, and ‘arts and humanities’ includes subject codes F, G and H (https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs/ hesa-codes).
FIGURE 8
How many people are employed in R&D in Scotland?
Scotland had 15,425 Scottish companies had 15,000 staff research staff employed in employed in R&D in 201822. its universities in 2018/1923.
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SCOTLAND – MAY 2021 4 Research and innovation is international
Scotland’s international collaboration has a slightly higher impact than the UK average.
FIGURE 9
Top 5 collaborator countries24.
1 USA 2 GERMANY 3 FRANCE 4 ITALY 5 AUSTRALIA
FIGURE 10
Share of publications with international collaboration 2012 – 201625.
60 KEY 55.7% 56.9% 56% 54.2% 53.6% UK publications 51.3% 51.5% 50 48.7% 48.8% Scottish publications 47%
40
30
20 % of publications with international collaboration
10
0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Year
Find out more
Investing in UK R&D Industry programme Promoting excellence in science Explore research and innovation in The Royal Society’s Science and We promote excellence in science and other areas of the UK and read our Industry programme connects industry support international collaborations by briefings on R&D investment in the UK with the Society and promotes the funding research in the life and physical produced together with the other UK value of science to the economy by sciences, including engineering, in the National Academies. Find out more on bringing together industry, academia UK and internationally. Find out more royalsociety.org/uk-research-and- and government. Find out more on about our grants programmes on innovation royalsociety.org/industry royalsociety.org/grants
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SCOTLAND – MAY 2021 5 References
1 ONS (2020) UK gross domestic expenditure on research and development. 2018. Note - figures are rounded.
2 ONS (2020) UK population estimates for 2018 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/ datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland [accessed 23 March 2021)
3 ONS (2020) UK gross domestic expenditure on research and development. 2018. Note - figures are rounded.
4 The geographical areas used in this briefing are based on the ONS classification. List of major towns and cities from General Register Office for Scotland - https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/old/00settle.pdf
5 Workplaces in the science and technology sector are from Office for National Statistics. 2017 Employees and workplaces in Science and Technology in Local Authorities of the UK, 2016 (user requested data). Data corresponds to figures for 2016. Data released on 17 January 2017. Workplace is defined as local units or branches of an organisation present in the region, and may belong to private, public or charity sector. Science and technology is defined based on SIC07 industrial classification codes.
6 Universities are from Higher Education Statistics Agency 2019. Higher education providers data retrieved on 26 March 2021. The term includes the Open University Scotland, which has an Edinburgh address. Institutions were linked to main campus site only. Postcodes obtained from web searches or UK Learning Providers. See http://learning-provider.data.ac.uk/) Research infrastructures are from Royal Society.
7 Colleges Scotland 2020, List of Colleges in Scotland https://collegesscotland.ac.uk/Colleges-in-Scotland/collegesinscot.html (accessed 26 March 2021). Note, colleges not shown on map.
8 Science parks are from UK Science Parks Association 2021. List of members accessed 26 March 2021 (includes full and associate members only). Postcodes obtained from web searches.
9 Royal Society. 2018. A Snapshot of UK Research Infrastructures. Report released on 22 January 2018.
10 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 2020. Business incubators and accelerators: the national picture https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/business-incubators-and-accelerators-the-national-picture (Accessed November 2020) Data released on 20 June 2017. Last updated 14 May 2018. Data does not include virtual programmes with no geographical site.
11 The research pooling initiative was created by SFC in 2004 to encourage researchers across Scottish higher education to pool their resources and respond to increasing international competition. List available here http://www.sfc.ac.uk/research/research-pooling/research-pooling.aspx (accessed 26 March 2021). Note, not shown on map.
12 Innovation Centres https://www.innovationcentres.scot/innovation-centres/ (accessed 26 March 2021).
13 Scottish Funding Council 2018. Outcome Agreement Funding for Universities – Final Allocations for AY 2018-19.
14 Value of Horizon 2020 funding awards signed for in 2018 (accessed 16/11/2020). See https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/dashboard/sense/app/93297a69- 09fd-4ef5-889f-b83c4e21d33e/sheet/PbZJnb/state/analysis Values refer to total European Commission contribution to research projects Value in £GBP calculated using exchange rate of €1.1133 to £1 (Bank of England exchange rate on 16/11/2020).
15 HM Revenue and Customs. 2019 Research and Development Tax Credits 2017-18.
16 Research Councils UK. Gateway to Research. See gtr.rcuk.ac.uk. Data accessed on 16 November 2020.
17 Innovate UK. Data requested directly. Figures correspond to expenditure in 2018/19 financial year. This only accounts for funding received by the grant recipient in that single financial year, and therefore differs to the total value of grants awarded which may involve payments over multiple years.
18 The data provided captures grants expenditure in the 2019-20 financial year. This includes funding made to UK institutions as part of UK and international projects. To calculate the share given to UK institutions as part of international awards, the total award value was divided by the number of named collaborators on an application.
19 Research Councils UK. Gateway to Research. See gtr.rcuk.ac.uk (accessed 29 March 2021). This graph shows the total value of grants awarded with funding beginning in 2018. These may be spent over a number of years and outside Scotland via collaborations. Awards made in other years may also be spent in 2018 and are not included here.
20 Scottish Qualifications Authority. 2019 Results Services Report Statistical Tables 2019. Figures refer to number of Highers entries. Not all subjects shown - science and non-science subjects selected to provide comparison.
21 Higher Education Statistics Agency 2018/19 via Heidi Plus (accessed 26 March 2021) See https://heidiplus.hesa.ac.uk
22 Office for National Statistics. 2020. UK business enterprise research and development 2018.
23 Higher Education Statistics Agency. 2020 Staff (excluding non-academic atypical) in Higher Education 2018-19 via https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/ staff/working-in-he (accessed 19 November 2020). Figures refer to full-time equivalent staff. Research staff refers to those listed as academic and with functions in research only or both research and teaching.
24 Scottish Science Advisory Council (2019) A Metrics-Based Assessment of Scotland’s Science Landscape 2007 – 2016.
25 Ibid.
The text of this work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. The license is available at: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.
© The Royal Society. Issued: May 2021 DES7397
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SCOTLAND – MAY 2021 6