highlights 



national science resource patterns 



The pace of Japanese R&D expenditures exceeded that 

 of the growth of the Japanese economy over the period 

 1965-85. The average annual rate of increase in R&D 

 was 9.3 percent compared to 6.0 percent for the GNP. 

 In the United States, R&D efforts expanded at a slightly 

 slower rate than GNP: about 2.5 percent and 2.8 per- 

 cent, respectively. R&D expenditures in Japan in- 

 creased nearly fivefold between 1965 and 1985, from 

 constant (1982) $6.1 bUlion to $36.0 billion dollars. 

 During the same period, U.S. investments in R&D 

 rose 63 percent, increasing from constant $59.4 billion 

 to $96.5 bUlion. (See pp. 1-2.) 



Although U.S. investments in R&D are nearly three 

 times as high as those of Japan in absolute terms, 

 Japan's investment is now comparable based on the 

 size of its economy. The Japanese R&D/GNP ratio rose 

 consistently during the past 2 decades, reaching a level 

 of 2.8 percent in 1985 and 1986. The U.S. ratio, which 

 was 2.8 percent in 1965, steadily declined to a low of 

 2.1 percent in 1978 before rising to its 1985-86 level of 

 2.7 percent. (See pp. 1-2.) 



Slightly less than 1 percent of total Japanese R&D 

 expenditures was devoted to defense purposes in 1985, 

 a significant contrast to the 30-percent figure for the 



United States. Consequently, Japan has a higher ratio 

 of nondefense R&D expenditures to GNP than does 

 the United States. In 1985, the ratios were 2.8 percent 

 and 1.9 percent, respectively, and Japan has main- 

 tained a lead in this indicator since at least 1971. In 

 absolute terms, Japan's nondefense R&D expendi- 

 tures were one-half of U.S. nondefense R&D expen- 

 ditures in 1985. Of Japanese Government R&D 

 expenditures, 4 percent were devoted to defense-re- 

 lated R&D, compared to 68 percent in the United States. 

 (See pp. 2 and 14.) 



• In Japan, industry is the major source (69 percent) of 

 R&D funds; in the United States, R&D is financed 

 almost equally by the Federal Government and in- 

 dustry (48-49 percent each). Both countries exhibit 

 similar patterns of R&D by performer: in 1985, in- 

 dustry expended the majority of R&D funds (67 per- 

 cent for Japanese industry and 73 percent for U.S.), 

 higher education accounted for the second largest share 

 of R&D expenditures (20 percent and 12 percent, re- 

 spectively), and government accounted for nearly all 

 of the remainder (9 percent and 12 percent, respec- 

 tively). (See pp. 2-4.) 



IX 



