By Finfacts Team
The increase in corporate R&D investment for 2004-05 was 2 per cent in Europe but 7 per cent in the US and Asia, according to the International R&D Scoreboard, produced by the UK's Department of Trade and Industry.
There are two Irish companies among the top 1,000 global companies: Kerry Group has a 416th ranking and Elan Pharmaceuticals has a 806th rank ( Download Excel file at bottom of page).
The USA has 6 of the 15 largest companies by R&D (see figure ES3) but 6 of the top 10 larger companies by growth of R&D and 11 of the top 15 by R&D intensity. Europe has 6 of the top 15 by R&D but 1 of the top 10 by growth and 4 of the top 15 by R&D intensity. Amongst R&D-intensive middle-sized companies (sales up to £500m and R&D intensity over 4.5%) in the Global 1000, the USA has the largest proportion (38%) of its Scoreboard companies in this category. However, the UK is second of the 6 major countries by proportion with 22% of its companies in the middle – sized category. Using the US, EU and UK Scoreboards, the proportions of sizeable companies (R&D over £6.4m) in each R&D intensity band can be displayed. For the highest R&D intensity bands above 10%, the UK has a higher proportion than the EU ex UK although less than the USA (see figure ES4). The UKÂ's number of companies in this category has increased by 77% between the 2001 and 2005 Scoreboards.
The Scorecard of the the world's top 1,000 companies by R&D spending, shows that European companies as a whole have not increased R&D investment over the past four years, while US companies are spending 12 per cent more on R&D than their four-year average.
The European-US DaimlerChrysler car group, tops the R&D spending league, with an investment of $7.69bn - just ahead of Pfizer of the US with $7.684bn.
The US continues to score highly when "R&D intensity" - R&D in relation to sales - is measured. American companies invested 4.5 per cent of sales revenues in R&D, compared with 4.0 per cent for Japanese and 3.3 per cent for European companies.
This partly reflects the fact that the US is strongly represented in the three big R&D-intensive sectors of industry: pharmaceuticals, IT hardware and software. Europe is relatively weak in IT and related fields, while Asia lacks a vibrant pharmaceutical sector.
The business climate for R&D-active companies continued to improve in the period covered by the Scoreboard, with increases in overall sales growth, profitability and R&D levels for the top 1000 companies across the world. Growth in all three measures was stronger in the Americas than in the Asia-Pacific region or Europe. The United States continues to be the strongest R&D nation with 6 of the top 15 biggest R&D investing companies; Europe collectively has 5. The USA also has 11 of the top 15 larger companies by R&D intensity (R&D as % sales); Europe has the remaining 4.>
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