(Booze and Co.: New York) -- Total research and development (R&D) investment among the world’s top spenders on innovation surged upward in 2010 from its recession-induced decline in 2009, according to the 2011 Global Innovation 1000, the seventh annual study of corporate innovation spending, released by global management consulting firm Booz & Co. The study reveals that the 1,000 public companies that spent the most on R&D in 2010 increased total R&D outlay by 9.3 percent to $550 billion, rebounding from 2009’s 3.5-percent decline—marking a return to the long-term growth trajectory for innovation spending.

2010’s increase in R&D did not keep pace with the 15-percent spike in revenue among Global Innovation 1000 companies, resulting in a slight decline in R&D intensity, or R&D spending as a percentage of revenue—from 3.76 percent in 2009 to 3.52 percent in 2010. However, this was a natural balancing out of the long-term trend, given that in 2009 most companies did not cut innovation dollars nearly as deeply as their double-digit decline in sales might have indicated.

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