Division 2) Variable 230201: R & D personnel

Research and experimental development (R & D) comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge.

R & D personnel in a statistical unit include all persons engaged directly in R & D, whether employed by the statistical unit or external contributors fully integrated into the statistical unit’s R & D activities, as well as those providing direct services for the R & D activities (such as R & D managers, administrators, technicians and clerical staff).

Persons providing indirect support and ancillary services, such as canteen, maintenance, administrative and security staff, should be excluded, even though their wages and salaries are included in ‘other current costs’ when measuring intramural R & D expenditure as from definition No D1.

R & D personnel includes two main groups of individuals:

• Persons employed by the statistical unit who contribute to a unit’s intramural R & D activities (internal R & D personnel).

• External contributors that are fully integrated into the unit’s intramural R & D activities (external R & D personnel) that can be either independent (self-employed) or dependent (receiving wages/salaries but not from the statistical unit performing the R & D).