The OECD SwiFTBeRD dashboard has been released for 'Beta' usability testing.
The OECD R&D statistics team welcomes users' comments and suggestions on the dashboard features and content at RDSurvey@oecd.org
The OECD Short-term Financial Tracker of Business R&D (SwiFTBeRD) dashboard allows to visualise quarterly, semi-annually and annually reported R&D data for the world's top R&D investors, providing company-specific and sectoral insights. It aims to deliver the timeliest possible view of R&D data reported by companies, with updates published continuously, shortly after they have been released in their quarterly financial reports. The SwiFTBeRD dashboard complements the publication of official statistics derived from R&D surveys, illustrating the latest business R&D trends for the selected illustrative group of global companies for different industries. The dashboard gives users a wide choice over customisable outputs, including nowcasting support tools.
About SwiFTBeRD data
SwiFTBeRD is an initiative of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation that seeks to provide timely business R&D trends indicators based on data publicly disclosed by companies. This new and experimental tool complements the OECD reporting of official R&D statistics published in the OECD Research and Development Statistics and the OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators (MSTI) databases. Although official R&D data, principally based on statistical surveys, serve as basis for the most robust and internationally comparable variable breakdowns and structural indicators, they suffer from a lack of timeliness that results from regular collection and reporting cycles. R&D figures reported in companies’ financial accounts help provide a more timely picture that can complement survey-based data.
The SwiFTBeRD data are collected by OECD from companies’ financial statements accessed directly from companies’ websites (or from the United States’ Edgar system in the case of companies filing accounts in the United States). The SwiFTBeRD dashboard includes data on R&D expenditures and total revenues - with the possibility of also deriving R&D intensity figures by dividing the two - from the first quarter of 2018 for quarterly (and semi-annual) data, and from 2017 for annual data. The covered sample consists of the top 50 R&D performers on the world (excluding companies for which R&D costs are not reported separately in their financial reports) as well as a selection of other companies known as leaders in their sector.
Company reports of R&D expenses need not coincide with R&D expenditures as covered in official R&D statistics compiled according to the OECD Frascati Manual. In order to compile the data presented in the SwiFTBeRD Dashboard, the OECD implements a series of adjustments aimed at enhancing comparability, whenever the necessary information is available. Further methodological details are provided in SwiFTBeRD Dashboard.
SwiFTBeRD data updates
SwiFTBeRD updates will take place on a rolling basis, shortly after companies have published their reports, i.e. within less than two months from the end of the reference quarter for quarterly data and three months for annual data.
Further data and tool development
The SwiFTBeRD dashboard has been made available as a “Beta”, under development-type product. Technical developments are still ongoing to improve the responsiveness of the application built in “R Shiny”. Ulterior updates of the application are expected to also cover more companies, historical time periods and visualisation features.
Useful links
External links
Documents connexes