OECD STI Scorecard

The new review of science, technology and innovation in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is available. Published every two years, the OECD Science, Technology and Industry (STI) Scoreboard brings together over 200 internationally comparable quality indicators to explore the progress of national innovation strategies and recent developments in science, technology and industry.

• Investment in new knowledge, notably in R&D, is now growing in line with GDP. This contrasts with the late 1990s when investment in knowledge outpaced growth of GDP.
• Skilled workers constitute an increasing share of the labour force, notably in the services industries.
• Public policies that seek to foster innovation are being progressively reoriented, from subsidies and procurement to alternative instruments such as R&D tax relief and reinforcement of industry-science linkages.
• The pace of diffusion of information and communication technologies has become steadier than in the heady days of the late 1990s, notably in terms of broadband Internet access among households and adoption by businesses for e-commerce.
• The economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are taking further steps in many areas of the knowledge economy, most notably in terms of investment in research (in China and India), patenting and trade in high-technology industries.
• Research and S&T activities have become more internationalised, in line with the increasing globalisation of value chains. In most OECD countries foreign affiliates of multinational firms now have a higher share in R&D than in manufacturing activities.