Research and Development: U.S. Trends and International Comparisons. Science and Engineering Indicators 2020. NSB-2020-3

The U.S. R&D enterprise relies on businesses, federal and nonfederal governments, higher education institutions, and other nonprofit organizations. This report identifies trends in R&D performance and funding and compares them to those of the world's other major economies. The U.S. annual total of R&D has expanded steadily since 2010 (totaling $548 billion in 2017), mostly due to sizable annual increases in business R&D performance. In 2017, the United States remained the world's top R&D performer. However, the global concentration of R&D continues to shift from the United States and Europe to South Asia and East-Southeast Asia. [SRI International, Center for Innovation Strategy and Policy, assisted with report preparation. Research and development performed by higher education institutions is treated in more detail in the "Indicators 2020" reports "Publications Output: U.S. Trends and International Comparisons. Science & Engineering Indicators 2020. NSB-2020-6" (ED615534) and "Academic Research and Development. Science & Engineering Indicators 2020. NSB-2020-2" (ED615447).]