Worldwide spending on corporate R&D increased by 6.9% in 2008, according to the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard published yesterday (16 November).
For companies with their headquarters in the EU, investment growth was 8.1% higher than the previous year. This was a significantly greater increase than the 5.7% growth recorded by US firms and the 4.4% increase recorded in Japan.
Two European companies feature in the top ten for industrial R&D investment, with Volkswagen coming in third place and Nokia coming eighth. Topping the table was Toyota, which spent €7.61 billion.
US firms were, on average, more conservative than their European competitors, but American firms still account for half of the top ten corporations when it comes to R&D investment: namely Microsoft, General Motors, Pfizer, Ford and Johnson & Johnson. Switzerland also had two companies in the top tier – Roche and Novartis.
Companies based in emerging economies continued to show the highest R&D growth, led by China with a 40% increase, India (27.3%), Taiwan (25.1%) and Brazil (18.6%). This is line with expectations that China and India could overtake Europe and the US to become world leaders in research by 2025 (EurActiv 25/09/09).
While R&D spending may have remained robust in 2008, the Scoreboard also provides details of company operating profits, which fell by 30.5% in the EU and 19.1% in the US.
Pharma and biotech lead the way
Research growth in the US is dominated by knowledge-intensive sectors, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and IT, while R&D growth in the EU is more evenly spread across all sectors.
EU companies lead the way in the medium-high and medium-low R&D intensity areas, such as the car parts, electrical equipment and chemicals sectors.
The pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector reinforces its position as the top R&D investor both worldwide and in the US, accounting for 18.9% and 25% respectively.
The automobiles and parts sector is the third biggest worldwide, accounting for 17.1%, but the first in EU and Japan, accounting for 25% and 27% respectively. Despite being the first sector to be hit by the economic crisis, some automobile companies recorded double-digit R&D growth in the past year.
Volkswagen increased investment by 20.4%, Peugeot by 14.4% and Fiat by 14.1%. However, others reduced their R&D investment considerably, including Renault (-9.2%), Daimler (-9.1%), BMW (-8.9%), Ford Motors (-2.7%), and General Motors (-1.2%).
This year's Scoreboard also confirms the strong R&D activity of companies active in renewable energy technologies. The six EU companies from this sector showed impressive growth in R&D investment over the last three years.
