Every other year the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis, Growth Analysis, presents statistics on research and development (R&D) performed by international enterprise groups. This report is based on surveys from large Swedish owned enterprise groups’ R&D in Sweden and abroad alongside foreign owned enterprise groups’ R&D performed in Sweden. In connection, a different perspective on Statistics Sweden’s survey R&D in the Business Enterprise Sector is presented by country of ownership.

In 2017, large Swedish owned enterprise groups performed intramural R&D amounting to 79.6 billion SEK worldwide, a decrease of 300 million SEK since the previous survey in 2015, 2017 fixed prices. R&D expenditure within Sweden decreased by 1.3 billion SEK in 2017 compared to 2015 and amounted to 39.5 billion SEK. R&D expenditure abroad by Swedish owned enterprise groups amounted to 40 billion SEK with subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia accounting for the majority of expenditure. Total expenditure increased in Europe and Asia but decreased in North America and South America during 2017 compared to 2015.

R&D in large Swedish owned enterprise groups

In 2017, large Swedish owned enterprise groups performed intramural R&D amounting to 79.6 billion SEK worldwide, a decrease of 300 million SEK since the previous survey in 2015, 2017 fixed prices. R&D expenditure within Sweden decreased by 1.3 billion SEK in 2017 compared to 2015 and amounted to 39.5 billion SEK. R&D expenditure abroad by Swedish owned enterprise groups amounted to 40 billion SEK with subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia accounting for the majority of expenditure. Total expenditure increased in Europe and Asia but decreased in North America and South America during 2017 compared to 2015.

R&D in Sweden

The majority of R&D in Sweden is performed in the business enterprise sector. During 2017, the expenditure on intramural R&D amounted to 111 billion SEK, 71 percent of the total R&D expenditure in the whole economy. Foreign owned companies’ intramural R&D expenditure within Sweden amounted to 53 billion SEK. During the last decade, R&D expenditure by Swedish-owned companies has decreased from 62 of 93 billion SEK in 2007, or 66 percent, to 58 of 111 billion SEK in 2017, 52 percent. Thus, the share of R&D performed by foreign owned companies has increased. Countries of ownership with the largest R&D expenditure in Sweden during 2017 were China, Great Britain, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan.