Research and development
Published: 12 September 2023
Data on conditions that favour research and development across UK regions – measured by broadband speed, numbers of university research students, and business spending on research.
Visualisation
Index of research and development, by region (UK)
41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest composite scores. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). Areas with the highest scores have the best environments for research and development.
Data
| Region | Index of research and development | Quintile |
|---|---|---|
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 0.81 | 5 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 0.79 | 5 |
| Cheshire | 0.53 | 2 |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | 0.00 | 1 |
| Cumbria | 0.34 | 1 |
| Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | 0.75 | 5 |
| Devon | 0.49 | 2 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 0.44 | 2 |
| East Anglia | 0.70 | 4 |
| East Wales | 0.53 | 2 |
| East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | 0.65 | 3 |
| Eastern Scotland | 0.72 | 4 |
| Essex | 0.62 | 3 |
| Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area | 0.76 | 5 |
| Greater Manchester | 0.69 | 4 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 0.72 | 4 |
| Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | 0.53 | 2 |
| Highlands and Islands | 0.00 | 1 |
| Inner London - East | 0.65 | 4 |
| Inner London - West | 0.78 | 5 |
| Kent | 0.62 | 3 |
| Lancashire | 0.59 | 3 |
| Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | 0.68 | 4 |
| Lincolnshire | 0.33 | 1 |
| Merseyside | 0.70 | 4 |
| North Eastern Scotland | 0.27 | 1 |
| North Yorkshire | 0.48 | 2 |
| Northern Ireland | 0.58 | 3 |
| Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear | 0.58 | 3 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 0.41 | 1 |
| Outer London - South | 0.43 | 1 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 0.72 | 5 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | 0.53 | 2 |
| South Yorkshire | 0.48 | 2 |
| Southern Scotland | 0.00 | 1 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 0.70 | 4 |
| Tees Valley and Durham | 0.58 | 3 |
| West Central Scotland | 0.72 | 5 |
| West Midlands | 0.78 | 5 |
| West Wales and The Valleys | 0.44 | 1 |
| West Yorkshire | 0.64 | 3 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
Summary main findings
Areas with the best environments for research and development include:
- Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire
- Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
- Inner West London
- Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Bath and Bristol
- West Midlands
- Derby and Nottingham
- Central Scotland
Many of these areas are locations of major universities and high-tech and engineering firms.
This data has similar patterns to the data on areas with sociocultural advantage – the best environments for upward mobility tend to be in and around London, and the worst are in more remote parts of the UK.
About the data
This page combines data from the following 3 indicators into a single ‘composite’ score to give a more reliable picture of geographical mobility patterns:
Indicators are rescaled to make sure they use a common metric. The best-performing area’s score is set to 1, and the least well-performing area’s score is set to 0.
See the technical annex (opens in a new tab) for more information on how each area was scored.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 5KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Indicator code
- Indicator name
- Area code
- Area name
- Area type
- Value
- Sex
- Quintile
Page history
Publication release date:
12 September 2023