Chapter 4 | Research and Development: U.S. Trends and International Comparisons

Glossary

European Union (EU): The EU comprises 28 member nations: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Unless otherwise noted, data on the EU include all 28 nations.

G20: Group of Twenty brings together finance ministers and central bank governors from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.

Gross domestic product (GDP): The market value of goods and services produced within a country. It is one of the main measures in a country’s national income and product accounts, which record the value and composition of national output and the distribution of the incomes generated in this production (BEA 2015).

Multinational enterprise (MNE): A parent company and its foreign affiliates. An affiliate is a company or business enterprise (incorporated or unincorporated) located in one country but owned or controlled (10% or more of voting securities or the equivalent) by a parent company in another country. A majority-owned affiliate is a company owned or controlled by more than 50% of the voting securities (or equivalent) by its parent company.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): An international organization of 35 countries, headquartered in Paris, France. The member countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Among its many activities, the OECD compiles social, economic, and science and technology statistics for all member and selected nonmember countries.

R&D: Research and experimental development comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge—including knowledge of humankind, culture, and society—and its use to devise new applications of available knowledge.

Basic research: Experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view.

Applied research: Original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge; directed primarily, however, toward a specific, practical aim or objective.

Experimental development: Systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes (OECD 2015).

R&D intensity: A measure of R&D expenditures relative to size, production, financial, or other characteristics for a given R&D-performing unit (e.g., country, sector, company). Examples include R&D-to-GDP ratio and R&D value-added ratio.

ANBERD: Analytical Business Enterprise R&D

ARRA: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

BEA: Bureau of Economic Analysis

BRDIS: Business R&D and Innovation Survey

CAGR: compound average annual growth rate

DOC: Department of Commerce

DOD: Department of Defense

DOE: Department of Energy

EU: European Union

FFRDC: federally funded research and development center

FY: fiscal year

G20: Group of Twenty

GBARD: government budget appropriations for R&D

GDP: gross domestic product

GERD: gross domestic expenditures on R&D

GUF: general university fund

HE: higher education

HERD: Higher Education Research and Development Survey

HHS: Department of Health and Human Services

IRC: Internal Revenue Code

IRS: Internal Revenue Service

ISIC: International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities

MER: market exchange rate

MNE: multinational enterprise

NAICS: North American Industry Classification System

NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NCSES: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

nec: not elsewhere classified

NIH: National Institutes of Health

NIPA: national income and product accounts

NSF: National Science Foundation

OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

ONP: other nonprofit organization

OPEC: Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

OWH: other Western Hemisphere

PPP: purchasing power parity

PST: professional, scientific, and technical

R&D: research and development

R&E: research and experimentation

S&E: science and engineering

UK: United Kingdom

UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

USDA: Department of Agriculture