Research and development in the public sector

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Science, Technology and Culture
Anne-Sofie Dam Bjørkman
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Research and development in the public sector 2022

The purpose of the R&D statistics is, among other things, to analyse the scope of research and experimental development undertaken within the public sector. The results forms part of the measurement of R&D in relation to GDP. The survey is conducted in accordance with OECDs guidelines for R&D described in the Frascati Manual.

Statistical presentation

The statistics on Research and Development (R&D) cover a large number of indicators describing the resources used with the focus being expenditures and personel (in numbers and in full-time equivalents). The information is distributed by main sectors, types of expenditure, fields of science and type of research.

Statistical processing

The Statistics are compiled annually on the basis of questionnaires. The data collected are validated very carefully focusing on a number of prioritized variables, notably the R&D expenses. This is performed at macro- as well as micro level.

Relevance

There is a general political objective of increasing the share of GDP, which is applied for research and development, and in the light of this objective, there is great interest in compiling statistics on research and development. The main users are Ministries, public authorities, business organisations, researchers, private business enterprises and the media. In addition, the European Commission (The statistical office Eurostat) and the OECD are important users. Data are available for purposes of research.

Accuracy and reliability

The reliability is high. The statistics is based on a census of 700 public institutions and the response rate is 100 percent. The collected data is going through an intense validation process and except for a single question the imputation rate for missing values is relatively moderate. Imputation could e.g. be the use of information reported by other institutions to replace missing information.

Timeliness and punctuality

National release is done 16 months after the end of the reference period. It is the aim to publish preliminary figures 12 months after the end of the reference period. Final figures are published 12 months after the preliminary figures.

Transmission of data to Eurostat follows rules laid down in the relevant legal act.

The release of the statistics is punctual.

Comparability

The statistics are comparable from the years 1997 to 2006 and from 2007 onwards.

Accessibility and clarity

The statistics are published in Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik (News from Statistics Denmark), are available from Statistics Denmarks website at: https://www.dst.dk/fui and from the database StatBank Denmark.