OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard

Frequency :
Biennial
ISSN :
2072-5345 (online)
ISSN :
1562-983X (print)
DOI :
10.1787/20725345
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OECD’s biennial statistical publication that brings together over 200 figures to help examine emerging policy issues in science and technology such as: the international mobility of researchers and scientists, the growth of the information economy, innovation by regions and industries, innovation strategies by companies, the internationalisation of research, the changing role of multinational enterprises, and new patterns in trade competitiveness and productivity. By providing a wide array of indicators for policy analysis, the OECD Science, Technology and Industry (STI) Scoreboard has become a widely used reference which combines statistical rigour with easy access and readability. The key findings are presented as bullet points alongside graphs highlighting the relative importance of countries. In addition, brief technical notes provide further methodological details on the indicators, along with links to useful references and data sources. The STI Scoreboard 2007 is available in book and online form and provides easy access to individual sections and links to the databases used. The Web version also gives users "clickable" access to the ExcelTM spreadsheets containing the data used in charts and figures.

Also available in: French, French
 
OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2009

OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2009 You or your institution have access to this content

Authors:
OECD
Publication Date :
03 Dec 2009
ISBN :
9789264076440 (HTML) ; 9789264063716 (print)
DOI :
10.1787/sti_scoreboard-2009-en

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At a time when world economy is in the midst of the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2009 provides the statistical information necessary to define a response to these global challenges.

This edition of the  Scoreboard  illustrates and analyses a wide set of indicators of science, technology, globalisation and industrial performance in OECD and major non OECD countries (notably Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Indicators are organised around five issues: responding to the economic crisis, achieving sustainable growth, competing in the world economy, connecting to global research, and investing in the knowledge economy, The Scoreboard also includes StatLinks, "clickable" access to the underlying data in Excel® spreadsheets.

 

Also available in: French

Expand / Collapse Hide / Show all Abstracts Table of Contents

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  • Foreword
    The OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2009 brings together the latest internationally comparable data to explore the global challenges faced by OECD and other leading economies in the aftermath of the economic crisis. It draws mainly on OECD databases, indicators and methodology developed by the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry and focuses on five key areas of policy interest.
  • Executive Summary
    Innovation is a major source of economic performance and social welfare. It directly affects productivity, job creation and citizens’ well-being and helps to address global challenges such as the economic crisis, health and the environment. As the role of innovation has taken on greater prominence and its characteristics have evolved, statistical information is necessary to measure these global challenges and to identify directions for responding to them.
  • Highlights
    The world is at a crossroads. Economies are slowly recovering from the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. International competition from new players is eroding the lead of more established economies. Environmental pressures call into question the sustainability of current development models. Longer life expectancy is putting a greater strain on the capability of health systems to meet the needs of an ageing population. All these challenges are global, in the sense that they affect all countries regardless of income or geography. But they are also global because the scale of problems exceeds the capability of any one country and requires co-operation by all countries.
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  • Expand / Collapse Hide / Show all Abstracts Responding to the Economic Crisis

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    • Venture capital in the economic crisis
      Venture capital is a major source of funding for new technology-based firms. It plays a crucial role in promoting radical innovations and is one of the key determinants of entrepreneurship.
    • R&D in the economic crisis
      Economies are slowly recovering from the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. To emerge from the downturn and put countries back on a path to sustainable growth, continuous innovation will be required. However, financing innovation becomes harder in economic downturns when both cash flows and investment funds are shrinking.
    • R&D growth over the business cycle
      Research and development (R&D) expenditure is one of the most widely used measures of the innovative efforts of firms and countries. It is directly linked to innovation via new products and new processes, and indirectly as investment in knowledge.
    • Financing R&D during a recession
      The business enterprise sector remains the main source of R&D funding in most OECD countries, accounting for around two-thirds of the total in 2007. Its role differs sharply across countries, from over three-quarters in Japan and Luxembourg to less than 35% in Greece and Poland. In recent years, its role has increased slightly in the main OECD regions to 55% in the EU and 66% in the United States.
    • Trends in business R&D
      Business enterprise R&D (BERD) accounts for the bulk of research and development (R&D) activity in OECD countries in terms of both performance and funding. In 2007, R&D performed by the business sector reached USD 616.8 billion (in current PPP), or close to 70% of total R&D. The United States accounted for around 43% of OECD-area BERD. The EU and Japan accounted for 27% and 19%, respectively.
    • Business R&D by technology intensity
      Manufacturing industries can be grouped into four categories according to their research and development (R&D) intensity: high, medium-high, mediumlow and low technology. In the OECD area since the early 1990s, high-technology industries had on average stronger growth of R&D expenditure than other manufacturing industries, particularly in the mid- 1990s and up to the bursting of the Internet bubble after 2000.
    • Business R&D by firm size
      Small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) play an important role in innovation. They are a constant source of technological change and competitive pressure for large firms, which are compelled to innovate to maintain their technological edge. The credit crunch created by the current crisis is likely to affect SMEs severely, owing to their typically limited access to finance.
    • Patent intensity over the business cycle
      Patents provide a uniquely detailed source of information on the inventive activity of countries. Historically, research and development (R&D) expenditures and patent filings have moved in parallel with gross domestic product (GDP) and slowed markedly during the economic downturns of the early 1990s and early 2000s. Patenting is more rapidly affected by the economic situation than R&D expenditures funded by the business sector. Provisional data for 2008 show a significant slowdown of patenting activity in most countries.
    • Trademarks over the business cycle
      Trademark data are a possible source of information on innovative activity. Firms use them in practice to launch new products on the market in order to signal novelty, and to appropriate the benefits of their innovations. It has been shown that the number of trademark applications is highly correlated to other innovation indicators. Trademarks can then complement the other indicators. As their perimeter of applications is very broad, they can convey information not only on product innovations, but also on marketing innovation and innovations in the service sectors. One advantage of using trademarks as an innovation indicator is that the data relating to trademark applications are publicly available immediately after the filing. Trademark-based indicators can then provide up-to-date information on the level of innovative activity.
    • Trends in researchers
      Researchers are central to the research and development (R&D) system. Since the early 1980s, business researchers have grown faster than total industrial workers. However, they have also been more vulnerable to economic downturns, such as those at the beginning and the end of the 1990s and in the early 2000s. A significant slowdown in the growth of researchers can be expected as a result of the current recession. This can weaken the capability of firms and countries to perform R&D.
    • Foreign direct investment flows
      Foreign direct investment (FDI) provides the recipient country with access to new technologies and generates knowledge spillovers for domestic firms and additional investment in research and development (R&D). FDI flows as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) are also a measure of the degree of a country’s integration in the global economy. Crises have a variable impact on global FDI flows. While some national crises have sometimes seen a rise in FDI inflows, more general crises such as in the 1930s or 1970s and many national ones have seen sharp drops in outflows or inflows. FDI inflows to G7 countries dropped by 25% in 2008. In the first quarter of 2009, the decrease accelerated in Canada (–97%), Germany (–67%), Italy (–41%), Japan (–59%) and the United States (–63%). FDI inflows to the United Kingdom more than doubled in the first quarter of 2009, back to the same level as the previous year.
    • Trends in the employment of foreign affiliates
      Foreign affiliates contribute to a host country’s international competitiveness through several channels. They provide access to new markets and new technologies for domestic suppliers and buyers along the value chain, generate knowledge spillovers for domestic firms, and invest a higher share of their revenue in research and development (R&D).
    • Labour productivity growth over the business cycle
      Labour productivity is a key economic indicator commonly used to measure economic performance. It is closely associated with standards of living. In most OECD countries, labour productivity tends to increase over economic booms and decrease during recessions.
    • ICT investment over the business cycle
      Investment in physical capital is important for growth. It is a way to expand and renew the capital stock and enable new technologies to enter the production process.
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  • Expand / Collapse Hide / Show all Abstracts Targeting New Growth Areas

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    • Patents in environment-related technologies
      Investment in "clean" technologies can help achieve a wide range of environmental objectives, from mitigating climate change to controlling air and water pollution, to enhancing resource efficiency in general. Patents in renewable energy technologies or in techniques for controlling pollution and waste contribute to the development of clean technologies.
    • Environmental sciences
      Research in environmental sciences can help achieve a wide range of environmental objectives, from mitigating climate change to controlling air and water pollution, to enhancing biodiversity. Core scientific articles identify the most influential contributions to research. Citations to core articles in environmental sciences provide a measure of research activity in this field.
    • Telecommunication networks
      Broadband Internet and mobile phones have dramatically increased opportunities for long-distance communications and often now replace face-to-face interaction. Information can now be transmitted at any time and from anywhere via e-mail, conference calls, and virtual meetings. Improved communication channels can reduce commuting and business travel and thus the impact of productive activities on the environment. Telecommunication networks, therefore, are an important infrastructure for green growth.
    • Health-related R&D
      Ageing is one of the major challenges facing OECD societies and economies in the next decades. Innovation can help to meet this challenge, by improving the performance of health systems and reducing their costs. Health-related research and development (R&D) provides a useful indicator of innovative efforts in this field.
    • Health-related patents
      General health expenditures have risen relentlessly over the past decades in line with the increased costs of medical equipment and the ageing of the population in most OECD countries. Innovations in medical technologies and pharmaceuticals have followed the trend but remain unevenly distributed worldwide.
    • Biotechnology R&D
      Recent advances in the life sciences are proving the prediction that this will be the century of biotechnology. In two to three decades, new treatments and drugs, genetically modified foods, biologically controlled production processes, new materials, biologically based computing and many other applications may well be part of our everyday lives, improving health, the environment, and industrial, agricultural and energy production.
    • Public-sector biotechnology R&D
      Biotechnological techniques, materials and devices may – together with other technologies such as information technology, bioinformatics and nanotechnologies – transform the way a host of products are designed, manufactured and used. This may provide significant opportunities for sustainable growth in both developed and developing countries. It can also lead to far-reaching changes in economic activity and society and to some complex policy challenges.
    • Biotechnology patents
      Biotechnology and genetics research have received extensive investment from both the public and private sectors, with a growing impact on health care. Advances in medical genetics promise faster and better diagnosis as well as a new generation of targeted therapies.
    • Biosciences
      Recent advances in biosciences can help achieve a wide range of economic and social objectives, improving health, the environment, and industrial, agricultural and energy production. Core scientific articles identify the most influential contributions to research. Citations to core articles in biosciences provide a measure of research activity in this field.
    • Nanotechnology patents
      Nanotechnology – the science of the very small – is likely to have a major economic and social impact in the years ahead. It may help further miniaturise information technology devices, resolve fundamental questions related to the immune system, accelerate advances in genomics and contribute to the generation of renewable energy.
    • Nanosciences
      Nanosciences can help achieve a wide range of economic and social objectives, from solving fundamental questions related to the immune system, to accelerating advances in genomics and contributing to the generation of renewable energy. Core scientific articles identify the most influential contributions to research. Citations to core articles in nanosciences provide a measure of research activity in this field.
    • Government R&D budgets
      Public policy can play an important role in orienting innovation efforts towards the solution of global challenges. Government R&D budgets (GBAORD) provide an indication of the relative importance of various socioeconomic objectives, such as defence, health and the environment, in public R&D spending.
    • Public-private cross-funding of R&D
      Public and business research are complementary inputs for innovation. Research in the business sector is closely linked to the creation of new products and production techniques, but public research is important for funding and performing basic research that does not lead immediately to commercial returns. Public research also supports business sector research via knowledge spillovers.
    • Tax treatment of R&D
      Research and development (R&D) tax concessions are extensively used by OECD countries as an indirect way of encouraging business R&D expenditures. Special tax treatment for R&D expenditures includes immediate write-off of current R&D expenditures and various types of tax relief, such as tax credits or allowances against taxable income. Depreciation allowances are a third type.
    • Collaboration by innovating firms
      Collaboration is an important part of the innovation activities of many firms. It involves "active participation in joint innovation projects with other organisations" (Oslo Manual, 2005), but excludes pure contracting out of work. Collaboration can involve the joint development of new products, processes or other innovations with customers and suppliers, as well as horizontal work with other enterprises or public research bodies.
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  • Expand / Collapse Hide / Show all Abstracts Competing in the World Economy

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    • International trade
      The value of their international trade in goods and services reflects countries’ integration into the world economy. Small countries are generally more integrated: their exports tend to be in a limited number of sectors and they need to import more goods and services to satisfy domestic demand than larger countries. Size, however, is not the only determinant of trade integration. Other factors help explain differences across countries: geography, history, culture, (trade) policy, the structure of the economy (especially the weight of non-tradable services), re-exports and the presence of multinational firms (intra-firm trade).
    • International trade by technology intensity
      High-technology goods have been among the most dynamic components of international trade over the last decade. A country’s ability to compete in hightechnology markets is therefore important to its overall competitiveness in the world economy.
    • Manufacturing trade balance by technology intensity
      The manufacturing trade balance reveals an economy’s structural strengths and weaknesses in terms of technological intensity. It indicates whether an industry performs relatively better (or worse) than total manufacturing and can be interpreted as an indicator of revealed comparative advantage that is based on countries’ trade specialisation.
    • International trade in ICT goods and services
      Information and communication (ICT) goods and services have been among the most dynamic components of international trade over the last decade. Global trade in ICT goods (the sum of exports and imports) expanded strongly to USD 3.7 trillion in 2007. However, the share of OECD ICT trade in total world ICT trade has decreased steadily from 75% in 1997 to 52% in 2007 owing to a rapid rise in trade from non-OECD Asian countries.
    • Activity of foreign affiliates
      Foreign affiliates contribute to a host country’s international competitiveness through several channels. They provide access to new markets and new technologies for domestic suppliers and buyers along the value chain, generate knowledge spillovers for domestic firms, and invest a higher share of their revenue in research and development (R&D).
    • Electronic commerce
      The Internet is redefining relations between businesses and consumers, enabling companies to sell their products and services around the globe on an unprecedented scale. Shoppers can buy online at their convenience at any time and from anywhere. Ecommerce therefore allows firms around the world to compete in the global marketplace, at lower costs.
    • Innovation and firm performance
      Innovations have different degrees of novelty. A firm’s introduction of an innovation developed elsewhere can have a significant impact on its performance, but being an adopter is different from developing an innovation in house, especially if it is new to the market or to the world.
    • Innovation within companies
      To understand how diffusion of new technologies takes place, and to produce a more complete picture of how innovative a firm is, innovation surveys collect data on whether the innovation was developed within or outside the firm, and to what extent the firm interacted with other parties during the process.
    • Non-technological innovation
      Innovation has both technological and non-technological aspects. The commercialisation of new products often requires the development of new marketing methods. Similarly, a new production technique will increase productivity only if is supported by changes in organisation. Marketing and organisational innovations, therefore, are important dimensions of many firms’ innovation activities, particularly in services.
    • Product and marketing innovation using trademarks
      Trademarks are legal protections for distinctive signs of products, such as names or logos. They are often associated to new products as they enable to signal the novelty and do advertising. The number of new trademarks is then an indicator of product and marketing innovations. It makes notably possible to measure non-technological innovation and innovations in the services sector, which are not well captured by research and development and patents.
    • Internet access and use by businesses
      The Internet is a tool which enables businesses to reach large numbers of new customers every day. Small and medium-sized enterprises can now advertise and reach customers on a scale that just a few years ago was possible for only a handful of large corporations. Broadband access to the Internet is therefore an important way to compete in the global economy.
    • Entrepreneurship
      Entrepreneurship is increasingly recognised as an important driver of economic growth, productivity, innovation and employment. As firms enter and exit the market, theory suggests that the new arrivals will be more efficient than those they displace. Existing firms that are not driven out are forced to innovate and become more productive in order to compete. This is why policy attaches importance to the number of high-growth firms and the number of young, highgrowth firms (gazelles).
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  • Expand / Collapse Hide / Show all Abstracts Connecting to Global Research

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    • International co-operation in research
      International co-operation in research allows firms to stay abreast of developments and tap into a large base of ideas and technology. The innovation capability of a country depends to a significant extent on the degree of co-operation between its firms and their foreign partners.
    • International research co-operation among regions
      International research co-operation is unevenly distributed within countries, with a few regions accounting for most of the patents with foreign inventors. This suggests that a country’s innovative capability depends on the ability of a very few of its regions to connect to global research networks.
    • International co-operation in science
      Co-authorship of research publications provides a direct measure of collaboration in science. Research publications may have a single author or two or more co-authors. Co-authorship may involve researchers in the same institution, in the same country, or in two or more countries. These indicators help to understand how knowledge is created among researchers and how collaboration in science is changing.
    • Cross-border inventions
      In the search for new technological competences, better adaptation to local markets, and lower research and development costs, companies are moving research activities abroad. This internationalisation of research activities is an important driver of innovative firms and country competitiveness.
    • Technology balance of payments
      Technology balance of payments measures international technology transfers: licence fees, patents, purchases and royalties paid, know-how, research and technical assistance. Unlike research and development (R&D) expenditure, these are payments for production- ready technologies.
    • R&D funding from abroad
      The sources of funding of business enterprise research and development (R&D) may be national or foreign and originate from private business, public institutions (government and higher education) or international organisations. R&D funding from abroad includes, for instance, R&D performed by foreign affiliates when funded by the foreign parent company.
    • Internationalisation of R&D
      Research is increasingly internationalised. In the search for new technological competences, better adaptation to local markets, and lower research and development (R&D) costs, companies are moving their research activities abroad. This internationalisation of research activities is an important driver of innovative firms’ and countries’ competitiveness.
    • International collaboration on innovation
      Collaboration with foreign partners can play an important role in the innovation process by allowing firms to gain access to a broader pool of resources and knowledge at a lower cost and to share risks with partners.
    • International mobility of doctoral students
      International mobility of doctoral students is an indicator of the internationalisation of both the higher education sector and the research system. It also highlights the attractiveness of advanced research programmes and in some cases the existence of career opportunities for junior researchers in the host country. During their studies and afterwards, doctoral students contribute to the advancement of research in the host country. When returning home, they bring back new competences and connections with international research networks.
    • Foreign scholars in the United States
      The presence of foreign scholars in US higher education institutions is an indicator of the international attractiveness of the country’s universities and of opportunities for researchers in the United States. In 2007/08, US higher education institutions hosted 106 000 foreign scholars. They conducted research or teaching activities. Most were however engaged in research and two-thirds in the life, biological, health or physical sciences and in engineering.
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  • Expand / Collapse Hide / Show all Abstracts Investing in the Knowledge Economy

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    • New university graduates
      The number of new university graduates indicates a country’s capacity to absorb, develop and diffuse knowledge and to supply the labour market with highly skilled workers.
    • New doctoral graduates
      Doctoral graduates have attained the highest education level and are key players in research and innovation. They have been specifically trained to conduct research. They contribute to the diffusion of knowledge in society.
    • Human resources in science and technology
      Human resources in science and technology (HRST) are major actors in innovation. In most OECD countries, they represented more than a quarter of total employment in 2008. The share was even larger in northern Europe (39.6% in Sweden, 39.1% in Denmark, 38.0% in Norway, 34.2% in Finland) but also in Australia (35.8%), Canada (35.5%) and the United States (32.3%). There is no single pattern in terms of the split between professionals and technicians: in some countries professionals are more numerous than technicians (Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg); in others the opposite is true (Czech Republic, Italy and Norway).
    • Employment of tertiary-level graduates
      Employment of tertiary-level graduates is an indicator of the innovative potential of an economy and of the capacity of its labour market to allocate human capital to the production process.
    • Employment of doctorate holders
      A country’s capacity to engage human resources into innovation depends on the attractiveness of its research jobs. Doctorate holders have a research qualification and are a pillar of the research system. Their employment is an indicator of a country’s capability to generate new knowledge and innovation.
    • Earnings by educational attainment
      The earnings premium from education is an important incentive for individuals to enrol in tertiary education. In all OECD countries, annual earnings increase with educational attainment levels. In Hungary, the average annual earnings of tertiary-level diploma holders was more than twice that of upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education diploma holders in 2006. The next highest relative earnings were in the Czech Republic (183%), Portugal (177%) and the United States (176%). Such earning differentials are traditionally smaller in Nordic countries (129% in Norway, 126% in Sweden and 125% in Denmark) followed by New Zealand (115%).
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