Research and development spending by U.S. business has finally begun increasing robustly as the economic recovery has continued, reaching $499 billion—the most spent by any nation in a single year—in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. What’s more, the business sector’s share of those outlays rose to a record 69 percent. For mid-market companies, there’s even bigger news: Many are contributing more than their fair share to the R&D boom.
