This statistic shows the percentage of global research and development spending in 2018, by industry. In 2018, about 2.8 percent of global research and development spending was made by the aerospace and defense industry. Lockheed Martin's expenditure on research and development in 2017, for example, stood at 1.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Additional information on research and development in the healthcare industry
The pharmaceutical and medical care companies that service the global healthcare industry have a large influence on the degree of global research and development occurring. The pharmaceutics and biotechnology industry had the highest percentage of spending on research and development of total revenue from 2012 to 2016. In 2016, the industry spent 15 percent of total revenue on research and development. The nature of the sector requires companies to invest in research in order to remain competitive. Projections on the worldwide research and development spending in medical technology from 2011 to 2024 suggest that total spending in 2024 will reach 38.9 billion dollars, a significant increase on the 23.4 billion spent in 2011.
The high degree of financial risk as well as the high costs associated with conducting medical research means that a smaller number of large companies tend to dominate the market and thus dominate subsequent research. One such firm is Johnson & Johnson who increased spending on research and development from around 6.5 billion dollars in 2005 to over 10.5 billion in 2017. Such increases in spending suggest further the competitive nature of the market and that even the larger dominant firms must remain ahead of the competition.
