According to Booz Allen Hamilton’s third annual report on the “Global Innovation 1000”—the 1,000 largest corporate R&D spenders—R&D spending increased 10% in 2006 to $447 billion. Booz Allen Hamilton estimates that the Global Innovation 1000 accounted for 84% of total corporate R&D and 52% of all R&D spending last year, which was estimated at $540 billion and $879 billion, respectively. North American companies in the Global Innovation 1000 increased their R&D spending by $21 billion, or 13%, and spent an average of 4.8% of sales on R&D. Japanese and European firms spent 3.7% and 3.4% of sales on R&D, respectively. While Indian and Chinese firms increased R&D spending by 25.7%, this increase only amounted to $400 million. Ninety-five percent of Global Innovation 1000 R&D spending came from North American, European and Japanese companies.

Source: Booz Allen Hamilton