Recommendation 9

The government has a target to increase the UK’s public and private investment in R&D to 2.4% of gross domestic product by 2027. The Fund contributes to this target.24 In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available, the UK invested 1.7% of its gross domestic product in R&D. This is below the average across the OECD of 2.4%. UKRI told us that it thought the UK should be aiming well above the OECD average. It told us that in 2018 Germany spent 2.9% of its GDP on R&D.25