C.5    Research and development and innovation surveys   

6.60.        Research and development and innovation surveys may include variables that are relevant for the estimation of trade in certain service categories, notably related to computer software and information services, research and development services, architecture, engineering, scientific and other technical services, audiovisual and related services included in personal, cultural, and recreational services and charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e. In particular, questions related to the origin of funding of research and development activities, and payments for the sales of the products and services derived from them can be used to arrive at better estimates of trade in services in those service categories. 

6.61.        When developing and conducting research and development and/or innovation surveys, compilers should consult the Frascati Manual, which is the internationally accepted standard for such surveys (note that at the time of writing of the present Compiler’s Guide, the Frascati Manual was being revised and was expected to include a chapter dedicated to the globalization of research and development). Since 2011, the manual has included an online annex designed specifically to address the features and needs of developing countries. That annex is being integrated into the revised core manual. 

               When using questions from research and development and innovation surveys related to payments for research and development, compilers should be aware that the international funding of research and development may also include donations and grants and thus do not necessarily represent payments for research and development services. Hence, care is needed to clearly identify that information for the purposes of compiling trade in services statistics (especially when compiling import statistics, because the coverage of research and development surveys does not necessarily include firms that buy research and development services but do not perform research and development themselves). Compilers can build on the prototype questionnaire with a comprehensive list of questions as described in the OECD Handbook on Deriving Capital Measures of Intellectual Property Products, notably section III, with example questions on data for international trade in research and development services and output produced in the past.[1] 

6.62.        In addition to questions related to payments for research and development services, questions in research and development and related surveys (e.g., ad hoc commercialization and licensing surveys) could also give insight into the value of intrafirm trade in services related to intellectual property products, notably if no payments are made for those services. Box 6.3 provides examples of questions that could be added to derive such information. A distinction between the types of intellectual property products could be included. 

6.63.        It is good practice to target certain questions to specific groups of respondents. For example, sellers and buyers of licences to reproduce and distribute are likely to remain within discrete industry groups.

Box 6.3 Questions for research and development surveys to better capture intrafirm services related to intellectual property products

Box 6.3 Questions for research and development surveys to better capture intrafirm services related to intellectual property products

(a) What is the estimated value of intellectual property licences (whether protected by copyright, patent or otherwise) that you use in production and receive from your parent or other affiliated party, and who owns and controls the underlying asset, for which no explicit payment was made by you?

(b) What is the estimated value of intellectual property assets (whether protected by copyright, patent or otherwise) that you use in production, whose ownership was transferred to you by your parent or other affiliated party, but for which no explicit payment was made by you?

(c) For dedicated intellectual property producers that receive no revenue through licensing of intellectual property products (IPPs): What is the estimated value of the intellectual property assets developed by your firm this year on behalf of your parent or other affiliated parties that may have funded the activity but did not make an explicit payment that was recorded by you as sales?

(d) For dedicated intellectual property producers that receive some revenue through the licensing of IPPs to non-affiliated parties: What is the estimated value of intellectual property (whether protected by copyright, patent or otherwise) that you provided to your parent or affiliated parties, but for which no explicit receipt was booked as sales?  

Those questions can, in turn, be broken down by type of service category, e.g. research and development, software, brands or audiovisual. 

[1] Two other publications that are relevant for measuring trade in services related to research and development include The Impact of Globalization on National Accounts , and the Guide to Measuring Global Production (forthcoming).