Fact file

The Office of National Statistics report on gross domestic expenditure on research and development 1996 shows that:

* Pounds 14.4 billion -1.94 per cent of national gross domestic product - was spent on research and development in the UK in 1996

* Of this Pounds 2.8 billion was carried out in universities and Pounds 575 million in research council institutions

* Business accounted for Pounds 188 million of the work in universities and Pounds 35 million in research council institutions