Scotland’s chief statistician on Wednesday released figures for gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) in Scotland in 2016.

The figures show GERD in Scotland was £2.33 billion in 2016.

In real terms this represents an increase of £50 million or 2.2% since 2015, taking GERD spend to its highest level since the series began in 2001.

Most of the growth in Scotland’s GERD came from the business sector.

Business enterprise R&D (BERD) spend was £1.072 billion in Scotland in 2016 — up 10% in real terms between 2015 and 2016.

Higher education R&D (HERD) spend was £1.061 billion in Scotland in 2016 — down 4.9% in real terms between 2015 and 2016.

In 2016, R&D spending in the business sector overtook that of higher education — the first time in the series that BERD spend has exceeded HERD spend in Scotland.

In 2016, Scotland’s GERD was 1.54% of GDP, compared to 1.94% for the EU.