Research and development in enterprises with 1–9 employees 2013:
Micro enterprises invest SEK 3.4 billion on R&D
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2016-01-21 9.30
Statistics Sweden presents the results from a pilot survey on R&D in enterprises with 1–9 employees. The results show that enterprises with less than ten employees invested SEK 3.4 billion on research and development (R&D). In comparison, enterprises with 10 or more employees invested SEK 85.9 billon the same year.
Of the 3.4 billion spent on intramural R&D by micro enterprises, enterprises in the service sector invested SEK 2.8 billion and enterprises in the goods sector spent SEK 0.6 billion.
Micro enterprises employed 15 500 persons in their R&D activities, 3 200 of whom were women and 12 300 were men.
Roughly 60 percent of the intramural R&D was self-financed. Swedish business angels and Swedish venture capital financed approximately 13 percent of the R&D expenditures. Roughly 7 percent was financed from abroad.
Information about the pilot survey
Statistics Sweden surveys enterprises with 10 or more employees on a regular basis concerning their R&D activities. This pilot study focuses on enterprises with less than 10 employees and was conducted as a part of a government assignment to further develop statistics in the field of innovations. The aim of this pilot study was to develop and examine a survey design suitable for enterprises with less than 10 employees, and to learn more about the size and scope of R&D in these enterprises.
Definitions and explanations
R&D
Research is systematic work to find new knowledge or ideas with or without the aim of a particular purpose.
Development work is a systematic work that uses research results, scientific knowledge or new ideas to bring about new material, goods, services, processes, systems, methods or significant improvements of those that already exist.
An enterprise’s R&D activities consist of intramural and/or extramural R&D.
Intramural R&D includes activities carried out in Sweden by the organisation's own personnel, or by consultants in an R&D project led by the organisation, in which the organisation's personnel have worked together with the consultants. Intramural R&D includes R&D commissioned by others.
Extramural R&D is when the enterprise pays others to perform R&D activities (in Sweden or abroad). Grants awarded by the company for R&D, e.g. to universities or institutes of higher education, are also included.
Business angel
A business angel is a private individual who invests a portion of his or her assets in shares of unlisted and start-up companies and makes a significant contribution in the form of capital and expertise to this enterprise.
Publication
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