• UK behind rivals in R&D spending
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TWO KEY sectors of British industry have increased their spending on research and development, despite the recession, according to a survey by the Confederation of British Industry.
They are electronics (up 14 per cent) and chemicals (up four per cent) but these figures — for the period 1978-81 — show that spending has actually slowed down.
Over the two previous threeyear periods, 1972-75 and 197578, electronics research and development (R&D) spending grew by 25 per cent and chemicals by 11 per cent.
Spending on R & D in the rest of British industry between 1978-81 rose about four per cent for the first year but subsequently remained flat.
The survey (Research and Development: In Recession Too?) was carried out by the CBI in an effort to bridge the gap since the last official statistics in 1978.
Some sector R & D figures, says the CBI, may not reflect accurately the efforts of firms to modernise products and enhance competitiveness.
An example is provided by the increasing sophistication of performance monitoring in cars using electronic dashboards, which is likely to result in higher expenditure by the vehicle manufacturers on bought-out components and parts.
The associated R&D spending is likely to be included in the figures for the electronics sector rather than the vehicles sector.
The CBI survey, which covered 64 firms in manufacturing and construction, also suggests a decline in R&D employment of about one per cent per year since 1979.
International comparisons on expenditure in 1978-79 showed the UK in fifth position behind its major competitors, the USA, Japan, West Germany and France.
The CBI claims that there is nothing in its recent survey to suggest any change since then in the UK's poor position relative to competing countries.