An encouraging statistic for today’s market size post, the growth rate in expenditures on research and development in the United States. Between 1980 and 2008 total spending on R&D grew by 529 percent.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1980 and 2008
Market size: $63.2 billion and $397.6 billion respectively
Source: “Table 799. Research and Development (R&D) Expenditures by Source and Objective,” Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, page 522, a PDF version of that page is available here.
Original source: U.S. Census Bureau
Posted on December 16, 2011