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March 6, 2017

R&D Spending Around the Globe


Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has a 35 nation membership and provides economic analysis and guidance in an effort to sustain open democratic governance with a mission to promote policies that will improve economic and social well-being of people around the world. This analysis of R&D spending is one of the many reports issued by OECD and reflects country spending relative to GDP which provides an indicator of future technological development within society. The associated national wealth is measured through patents and patent protections for development of the technological breakthroughs for ownership claims of corporate and industry developments for expansive application around the world. Included is the use of military R&D for national defense which can have application within social technology usage and country business systems.

The analysis measurement is R&D spending as a percent of GDP and although other nations may have a higher spending rate than the United States, the United States still spends more on a dollar basis due to the larger economy.
"The United States, which spends more than any other country on R&D and accounts for around 40% of total OECD R&D expenditure, saw its R&D intensity rise slightly from 2.76% in 2014 to 2.79% in 2015. Meanwhile, China continued its steady increase in R&D intensity, reaching 2.1% in 2015 – only 0.3 of a percentage point below the OECD average. In volume terms, China’s R&D spending was equivalent to 81% of the United States level in 2015 and 9% higher than that of the EU. The latest patent data show the number of patents filed by Chinese inventors continued to rise in 2014, while filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty by United States inventors declined."