Volkswagen and Samsung were the top two largest research and development (R&D) investors of last year, according to a report published Monday.
Samsung Electronics Co. invested $11.23 billion dollars in 2012 and recently announced plans to increase acquisitions as part of its plan to focus more on software.
German carmaker Volkswagen AG invested $12.84 billion in 2012, the first European firm to lead the list since 2004. The automaker has been investing in more fuel-efficient engines and modular platforms for cars, but is set to reduce R&D spending in the next few years.
Volkswagen’s board is meeting Friday to vote on a five-year spending plan, and analysts expect it to trim investments as costs are rising. Recent car sales in September and October grew, but the company had to recall 2.6 million cars in China last week.
Slow Europe
“The EU still lags behind its main competitors in business investment in R&D, and there are some worrying signs in these latest reports,” stated Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation, and Science. “Despite the positive results of top EU companies in important industrial sectors such as automobiles, we are still too weak in high tech sectors such as biotechnology and software.”
Most of the top 50 companies were from automobiles & parts, followed by IT, communication, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. Five of the top 10 companies were from the United States, and US companies on average increased spending more than other regions.
The 2013 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard took economic and financial data from quarterly and annual reports of the world’s top 2,000 companies and ranked them according to R&D investments.
The top 100 of the 2,000 companies accounted for over half of total R&D investments, totaling $399.53 billion in 2012.
Most of the companies in the top 100 showed positive R&D growth from the previous year. Fourteen simultaneously increased R&D and net sales by over 200 percent since 2004 and had positive operating profits in the last reporting period. Of these “best performing” companies, Google Inc. topped the list followed by Oracle Corp., Qualcomm Inc., and Apple Inc. Each of the four had invested over $3.4 billion in R&D in 2012.
According to the report, there’s still a trend of “persistent” market uncertainties globally. Most of the companies increased R&D investments but reported a lower increase in sales.
Top Ten R&D Investors
- Volkswagen AG
- Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
- Microsoft Corp.
- Intel Corp.
- Toyota Motor Co.
- F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd
- Novartis Corp.
- Merck & Co.
- Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.
- Pfizer Inc.
