§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what targets her Department has set for improving business innovation; and if she will make a statement on the UK's(a) G7 ranking, (b) European ranking and (c) world ranking in business innovation. [143136]
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§ Ms HewittMy Department's Public Service Agreement includes a target to increase the rate of business innovation. On 20 November, my Department published an economic report, "Competing in the Global Economy—The Innovation Challenge", that reviewed existing evidence on the UK's innovation performance. The report shows that UK innovation performance across a range of measures was around—or below—average relative to other advanced economies although some indicators have moved in the right direction in recent years. For example, after a period of decline of Research and Development spending from 1.5 per cent. of GDP in 1981, to 1.16 per cent. in 1997, we have seen an upturn in more recent years as summarised in the following table.
Per cent. 1998 1.17 1999 1.23 2000 1.19 2001 1.23 2002 1.24 A report on the Review of Innovation that we have undertaken this year was published on Wednesday 17 December.