In 2019, small businesses with 10–499 employees performed $70.6 billion worth of R&D work and employed over 500,000 R&D workers. Among businesses engaged in R&D, small businesses spend a much higher percentage of their sales on R&D than do large businesses. About two-thirds of small business R&D spending goes to development, about a quarter to applied research, and the remaining tenth to basic research.
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Fact Sheet, Small Business Contributions to Research and Development (PDF, 449 KB)