New Zealand business sector R&D expenditure reaches $3.7 billion

Research and development (R&D) expenditure in the Aotearoa New Zealand business sector continues to grow, reaching $3.7 billion in 2023, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.

Business sector expenditure on R&D increased $540 million (17 percent) between 2022 and 2023. This increase in expenditure was led by the services industries, which grew $331 million (15 percent) between the two years. The services industries include computer services, wholesale trade, and scientific research. Of the 13 industries in the R&D survey, 12 had higher expenditure compared with 2022.

The 17 percent increase in expenditure in 2023 is the largest annual increase since 2018, when data on R&D began to be collected every year.

The number of businesses undertaking R&D in 2023 was 2,286, a 2.3 percent decrease from 2022. The average expenditure on R&D per business increased from $1.3 million in 2022 to $1.6 million in 2023, a 20 percent increase.

“We are seeing continuous growth in R&D expenditure, and the number of businesses doing R&D has remained fairly stable over the last three years,” business performance manager Ricky Ho said.

“This suggests that businesses who are doing R&D are investing more.”

In 2023, wages and salaries comprised 60 percent of total R&D expenditure, or approximately $2.2 billion, up from $2.0 billion in 2022.

“While the number of people working on R&D has remained relatively similar to last year, the proportion of researchers has increased,” Ho said.

There was a total of 21,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff working on R&D in 2023, with the number of researchers increasing by 23 percent from 2022, to 14,000 FTEs.