R&D investment by the one thousand public companies that spend the most on R&D increased 9.6% in 2011 to $603 billion after a 9.3% increase the previous year, according to Booz & Company’s eighth annual “Global Innovation 1000” report. R&D spending by the computing and electronics, health care and automobile industries accounted for 28%, 21% and 16% of investments, respectively. Industrial companies’ spending represented 10% of spending, while chemicals and energy companies accounted for 7%. R&D spending by firms in China and India, North America, Europe and Japan increased 27.2%, 9.7%, 5.4% and 2.4%, respectively. The highest-ranked one hundred firms contributed 50% of R&D investment growth to account for 62% of all R&D spending by the one thousand companies. Of the one thousand firms, R&D spending rose more than 75%, compared with 68% growth in 2010. Nineteen percent of the one thousand firms spent less on R&D. Company sales at the one thousand firms increased by 13% in 2011, which accounted for R&D intensity falling one-tenth of 1% to 3.43%.

Source: Booz & Company