The latest UK R&D Scoreboard says that company spending went up by £2 billion last year.
You have to wonder if the DTI has been listening to the complaints we reported last week about counting R&D investment in the wrong way. The press release has that goes with this year's statistical analysis of corporate R&D spending has the title "R&D scoreboard reveals extent of R&D in services sector".
Companies in sectors such as banks, insurance, media and retail account are "disclosing R&D for the first time:" their inputs account for two thirds of the "substantial increase" in R&D investment, £19.2 billion compared to £17 billion reported in the 2005 Scoreboard.
The press release also picks another bit of good news in the scoreboard: "The UK's top R&D companies are keeping pace with their US counterparts in the world's top 1250 R&D companies, with both showing an 8 per cent rise in R&D compared with the previous year."
If previous reports are anything to go by, dig deeper into this one, though, and there is fair bet that you can find bits that are less rosy.
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