Corporate research and development has become a global operation, with most large, and even small, companies maintaining and building R&D operations in far-flung offices. U.S.-based IBM, for example, is now said to have more scientists and engineers in India than it has in the U.S.  Similarly, a number of large European and Asian pharmaceutical companies have more research resources in the U.S. than they do in their home countries to support the world’s largest healthcare market and researcher base. 

In R&D’s evaluations, the Top 10 rankings broke down into primarily three tiers:

• 1st Tier:  IBM, General Electric, and DuPont sharing the top. 
• 2nd Tier:  3M, Toyota, Google, and Apple. 
• 3rd Tier:  Microsoft, Genentech, and Dow Chemical.

Those in the top tier - IBM, General Electric, and DuPont - were placed there primarily because of the outright volume of research performed, their consistent performance in this area, and their longstanding, continued, and growing global R&D presence.

The middle tier was populated with three companies — Toyota, Google, and Apple — who have seen dramatic growth over the past several years based primarily on the value contributed by their R&D operations.   3M, which in past years might have been placed in the top tier, maintains it presence within the top ten based mostly upon its past glories, reputation, and aggressive technology development programs.

The lower tier—Microsoft, Genentech, and Dow Chemical—consists of large, well-respected R&D players, with entrenched global development programs that will continue to grow their companies’ product lines for years to come. These companies are not the high growth players of the middle tier and don’t have the outright R&D dominance of IBM, GE, or DuPont, but they stand alone in their support of R&D, the continued flow of innovative products, and the dominance that they hold over their specific markets.

To obtain more information about this report go to:  www.rdmag.com

Look up World’s Best R&D Companies, October 2007