After growing by almost 10 % for the second year running, total R&D spending by the most innovation-committed companies continues its vigorous growth, according to the 2012 edition of the survey "Global Innovation 1000.
The study, which focuses on the 1,000 listed companies with the largest R&D budgets, reveals that innovation spending reached $603 billion in 2011, an all-time record. This represents an increase of 9.6 % on 2010 ($550 billion) and the second consecutive year of growth. This recovery comes after a 3.5 % drop in spending between 2008 and 2009, at the height of the crisis.
Booz & Company also surveyed nearly 700 innovation leaders from companies around the world, to identify the companies perceived as the most innovative in the world. Apple, Google and 3M top the list for the third year running. The study also confirms that the most innovative companies are rarely those that spend the most.. A comparison of the 10 most innovative companies and the 10 with the highest R&D investment shows that the former outperform the latter on all the main financial indicators: sales growth, market capitalization growth and profit as a percentage of sales.
Other key findings of the 2012 edition are as follows:
- The three biggest R&D spenders are IT & electronics with 28 % of the panel's total expenditure, healthcare (21 %) and automotive (16 %).
- Three sectors accounted for two-thirds of the $53 billion increase in R&D spending between 2010 and 2011: IT/electronics, automotive and industrial products.
- 75 % of panel companies increased their R&D spending in 2011 compared with the previous year, compared with 68 % in 2010.
- Amazon joins the top 10 most innovative companies this year, at the expense of Facebook. For the third year running, Samsung moves up the ranking from 7th to 4th place. Apple, Google and 3M take the top three places for the third year running.
- Regionally, companies based in North America increased their R&D spending by 9.7 %, just above the world average of 9.6 %, while Europe and Japan recorded below-average rates, with 5.4 % and 2.4 % respectively.
- Once again, it is among companies based in India and China that we find the highest R&D investment growth rates (+27 % on average), albeit from a relatively modest expenditure base.
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