Kingdom: Preliminary results from a survey by the Sensors and Instrumentation Knowledge Transfer Network (SIKTN) show that 57% of UK sensor and scientific instrument companies plan to boost research spending in the next year. On average, sensor and instrument companies in the UK intend to increase research spending by 10%. In addition, 75% of the surveyed companies plan to outsource R&D, and 71% expect that they will outsource their R&D to universities. Taken as a whole, 54% of companies’ research funding will go to product and service development and 17% will go to basic research. According to the SIKTN, the European market for sensors and instrumentation is worth £25 billion ($50.4 billion) and the UK has a 30% share of the market.

Source: SIKTN