May 29 -- The Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, invites comment by July 29, 2024 on the proposed continuation of the Business Enterprise Research and Development Survey through 2026.
The U.S. Census Bureau, with support from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation, plans to conduct the Business Enterprise Research and Development Survey (BERD) for the 2024-2026 survey years. BERD covers all domestic, non-farm, for-profit businesses with at least 10 paid employees. BERD provides the only comprehensive national data on Research and Development (R&D) costs and detailed expenses by type and industry.
The Census Bureau has conducted a business R&D survey since 1957, collecting primarily financial information on the systematic work companies undertake to discover new knowledge or use existing knowledge to develop new or improved goods and services.
The 2024-2026 BERD will continue to collect the following types of information:
-- R&D expense based on accepted accounting standards.
-- Worldwide R&D of U.S. companies.
-- Business segment detail.
-- R&D-related capital expenditures.
-- Detailed data about the R&D workforce.
-- R&D strategy and data on the potential impact of R&D on the market.
-- R&D directed to application areas of particular national interest.
-- Data measuring intellectual property protection activities and technology transfer.
Domestic and foreign researchers in academia, business, and government analyze and cite data from the BERD. Among the federal government users are the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). BEA includes R&D in the system of national accounts that measures the economic well-being of the country. BERD data are key inputs into these accounts, which feed into the calculation of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The White House, in 2006, issued the American Competitiveness Initiative to “increase investments in research and development, strengthen education, and encourage entrepreneurship.” In support of this initiative and in response to legislative mandates, data on R&D are delivered to OSTP, primarily in the biennial National Science Board report Science and Engineering Indicators. Also, the National Science Foundation (NSF) produces a series of publications containing R&D data including the National Patterns of R&D Resources series, the S&E State Profile series, and the annual Business Enterprise Research and Development Survey series. Special reports and other publications are also prepared.
Census BERD:
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/brds.html
NCSES BERD:
https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/business-enterprise-research-development
Current survey instrument and technical documentation:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202108-0607-005 Michael Flaherty, Census Bureau, writes AEAStat on June 5: "While, at this time, I do not anticipate any substantive changes to any of these documents, if there are any, I will send you revised versions as soon as they are available."
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-11680