Understanding social sciences, humanities and arts for people and the economy R&D in the UK and internationally

A narrow definition of R&D, which does not fully recognise the contribution of the arts, humanities and social sciences, risks undervaluing these contributions to the UK economy.

Photo by Blue Planet Studio/Adobe Stock

What is the issue?

The project was commissioned in response to concerns that current definitions of business R&D used in UK government datasets do not fully capture the extent and role of social sciences, humanities and arts for people and the economy (SHAPE) R&D in the UK economy.

The recent UK Innovation Strategy highlights R&D as a key part of the government’s agenda as it aims to increase annual public investment in R&D to £22 billion by 2035, but a narrow definition of R&D, which does not fully recognise the contribution of the arts, humanities and social sciences, risks undervaluing the contribution of SHAPE R&D to the UK economy.

This is particularly concerning considering the UK economy is largely service-based and risks missing out on SHAPE contributions to the government’s target of 2.4% of GDP being invested in R&D by 2027.

How did we help?

The report aimed to further investigate these issues and develop a fuller picture of the way SHAPE R&D is understood and captured in the UK economy and in a wider international context.

A mixed methods approach was used to gather evidence through literature reviews, interviews and data analysis across six UK sectors and five international comparators. Several cross-cutting themes were identified based on our analysis of SHAPE R&D in the UK. R&D spend in the UK is growing, and business R&D makes up a significant proportion of expenditure.

What did we find?

Business R&D is concentrated in a small number of key sectors, and most of these employ a large number of graduates from non-scientific backgrounds
Business R&D activity can be defined in many different ways, but stakeholders often implicitly associate R&D with STEM
R&D employment data suggests SHAPE R&D comprises a small proportion of all business R&D
Collaboration is key to SHAPE R&D
Several sectors in which SHAPE plays an important role have a low level of engagement with R&D tax credits.

Main international findings:

International comparators have broader R&D definitions which are more likely to recognise SHAPE R&D activities
The inclusion of SHAPE in R&D definitions is often implicit rather than explicit
Data on R&D is typically captured using surveys
Tax credits are commonly used and provide another useful dataset on R&D expenditure
Very few countries produce breakdowns of SHAPE and non-SHAPE R&D which makes international comparisons difficult.

What can be done?

Capture information on SHAPE R&D in routine data collection: Understanding the extent and importance of SHAPE R&D to UK business is critical in enabling effective strategic planning in terms of skills needs across a range of policy areas from education to immigration.

Make definitions of R&D clear and consistent and engage with key industry stakeholders to ensure clarity and understanding: Lack of clarity can have implications both for the consistency and quality of data to support evidence-based decision making, and the extent to which R&D incentives are effective in achieving their policy objectives.

Consider person-centred measures of R&D as well as measures of expenditure: Given the range and nature of contributions that SHAPE graduates can make to R&D activity across sectors, and the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of much business R&D, a person-centred approach analysing the role and movement of people and their skills and capabilities may provide a useful alternative lens to analyse this topic.