2007 edition of Booz Allen's "Global Innovation 1000"

A little belated to report by blogger, but once again Booz Allen Hamilton published in December 2007 their “Global Innovation 1000” 2007 edition. Overall spending on research and development rose, to US$447 billion in 2007. The researchers found, as in 2006, no statistically significant connection between the amount of money a company spent on innovation and its financial performance. BAH selected a group of the Global Innovation 1000 companies, that spent a combined total of $68 billion on R&D in 2006. Through surveys and follow-up interviews with senior executives of those companies Booz Hamilton ex­plored their approaches to technology, customers, and markets, and how tightly their innovation strategies were connected to their overall corporate goals and direction.

Three innovation strategies are identified in the study, “Need Seekers”, “Market Readers” and “Technology Drivers”. However none of the strategies performed significantly better than the other. Customer focus is still the key. This year, nine of our 10 industry sectors accelerated their R&D spending — only the automotive industry spend grew at a slower rate over the last year than its five-year historic growth rate. More intriguing were the changes in the geographic distribution of R&D spending. Companies headquartered in North America increased their absolute R&D spending by 13 percent, accounting for most of the growth among the Global Innovation 1000. China and India continued to lag in intensity, with a spending level of only 0.8 percent of sales, reflecting the lower level of maturity in these markets and perhaps lower costs.