Interactive diagrams

Business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) represents the component of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) incurred by units belonging to the business enterprise sector. R&D expenditure by the higher education sector (HERD), the government sector (GOVERD) and the private non-profit sector (PNPERD) is the component of gross domestic expenditure on R&D incurred by units belonging to the higher education sector, units in the government sector, and units in the private non-profit sector respectively.

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) represents all funds used to carry out domestic R&D, regardless of the source of funding. It therefore also includes funds from abroad and from international organisations for research carried out in Germany. However, this does not include funds for R&D performed abroad by international organisations based in Germany or funds distributed abroad. The ratio of a state’s R&D expenditure to its gross domestic product (GDP) is its R&D intensity. The EU value is based on the average of the 27 EU member states with current EU membership (as of 01/2023). For the calculation of previous years’ values, the same member states were used regardless of their membership status at the time. For China, no data is available for 2019 and 2020.

The R&D personnel of a statistical unit include all persons engaged directly in R&D. R&D personnel can be divided into three categories: researchers, technicians and other supporting staff. Full-time equivalent (FTE) of R&D personnel is defined as the ratio of working hours actually spent on R&D during a specific reference period (usually a calendar year) divided by the total number of hours conventionally worked in the same period by an individual or by a group.

The R&D personnel of a statistical unit include all persons engaged directly in R&D. R&D personnel can be divided into three categories: researchers, technicians and other supporting staff. Full-time equivalent (FTE) of R&D personnel is defined as the ratio of working hours actually spent on R&D during a specific reference period (usually a calendar year) divided by the total number of hours conventionally worked in the same period by an individual or by a group. The gender distinction is only available in odd-numbered years.

The R&D personnel intensity expresses the number of persons employed in R&D (R&D personnel in full-time equivalents) per 1,000 persons in employment. This indicator allows international comparisons to be made. However, some countries do not record any values for R&D personnel intensity (e.g. USA). The EU value is based on the average of the 27 EU member states with current EU membership (as of 01/2023). For the calculation of previous years’ values, the same member states were used regardless of their membership status at the time. Partial data is not available for China (2019 and 2020) and the UK (2018 to 2020).

The number of scientific publications in international comparison is reported per million inhabitants. This allows international comparisons to be made. The calculation was carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research using data from the Science Citation Index, the OECD and the World Bank. The EU average value is based on those EU member states with membership status in the respective reference year.

The number of international patent applications in international comparison is shown per million inhabitants. This allows international comparisons to be made. International patents are inventions that have been filed with the European Patent Office or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The calculation was carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research using data from the European Patent Office (PATSTAT), the OECD and the World Bank. The EU average value is based on those EU member states with membership status in the respective reference year.