Research and development gross expenditure: 2024

• The total research and development (R&D) expenditure for Wales in 2024 was suppressed to avoid disclosing the private non-profit R&D expenditure, which was confidential.
• The total R&D expenditure for Wales excluding private non-profit businesses was £1.6 billion, a 6.0% increase compared to 2023.
• Business enterprise R&D expenditure was £884 million in 2024 (up 7.2% compared to 2023), with higher education R&D being £608 million (up 4.5%), and government R&D being £60 million (up 5.3%).
• In a small region such as Wales, the level of R&D expenditure can be influenced greatly by a small number of major projects commencing or ending, meaning the time series can be volatile.

This release provides estimates of R&D performed in, and funded by, the following 4 sectors of the UK economy:

• business enterprise R&D (BERD)
• higher education R&D (HERD)
• government, including UK Research and Innovation R&D (GovERD)
• private non-profit organisations R&D (PNPRD)

These sectors’ R&D data are known collectively as gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD).

In this statistical publication, R&D and related concepts follow internationally agreed standards defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as published in the Frascati Manual 2015.

These figures provide the current best estimate of R&D at the UK level, but there is more uncertainty in the estimates below the UK and performing sector level.

The 'Research and Development gross expenditure: 2023' statistical publication and StatsWales datasets that were due to be published on 18 August 2025 were cancelled. This was due to the level of suppression that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) applied to the data, leading to the total R&D figure for Wales in 2023 being unavailable.

For 2022, ONS introduced a new sample, that increased the volume of data received and ensured that the BERD statistics now better reflect the level of R&D performed across the UK economy. This means that the estimates in this bulletin supersede those from the interim uplift approach taken in 2021 and are considered the most accurate estimates of business R&D in the UK. Therefore, estimates from 2022 to 2024 are not directly comparable with previous years except at the UK level.

The R&D statistics for the 2022 period onwards have been re-designated as accredited official statistics, following the re-development of the business and higher education R&D statistics. Data prior to 2022 do not have the accredited official statistics designation and have not been included in the ONS release. Although, they are still available on the ONS website.

Further information is available in the 'Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, UK: 2024' ONS release.

We have stopped our business enterprise research and development (BERD) release and our StatsWales datasets following a review of our statistical outputs. The changes reflect feedback from a public consultation (Proposed changes to Welsh Government statistics outputs) and aim to focus commentary where it adds most value, while ensuring the underlying data remain accessible. As a result, please see the ONS website to access the underlying data for this release and for more information on BERD.

Economic statistics
Email: economic.stats@gov.wales 

Media: 0300 025 8099

Image