Creative industries R&D investment up 7 per cent in 2023

In 2023, expenditure on R&D by businesses in the included DCMS sectors was an estimated £8.4 billion, 17 per cent of the R&D expenditure by UK businesses overall (£50.0 billion). This was an increase of £0.6 billion (7 per cent ) since 2022.

The increase in the DCMS sectors included in the research between 2022 and 2023 was mainly driven by an increase in expenditure performed by businesses in the creative industries and the overlapping cultural sector.

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Estimates of R&D expenditure in 2023 and trends vary by sector:

• Creative industries: £7.1 billion, an increase of 9 per cent from 2022. The creative industries accounted for 85 per cent of total R&D expenditure by the included DCMS sectors and 14 per cent of expenditure by UK businesses overall.

• Cultural sector: £0.8 billion, an increase of 22 per cent from 2022. The cultural sector accounted for 10 per cent of total R&D expenditure by the included DCMS sectors and 2 per cent of expenditure by UK businesses overall.

• Tourism industries*: £0.9 billion, a decrease of 11 per cent from 2022.  The tourism industries accounted for 11 per cent of total R&D expenditure by the included DCMS sectors and 2 per cent of expenditure by UK businesses overall.

• Sport sector: £0.8 billion, an increase of 4 per cent from 2022. The sports sector accounted for 10 per cent of total R&D expenditure by the included DCMS sectors and 2 per cent of expenditure by UK businesses overall.

Gambling R&D expenditure is not available for 2023 to prevent the disclosure of respondent information in line with ONS disclosure rules.

*Tourism industries estimates in this release are constructed on a different basis to the tourism sector estimates in our other economic estimates, and will be larger as they take into account the entire industry rather than strictly tourism activity.

More on Government website here

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