Companies may have chopped capital investment, marketing and payrolls during the steep recession, but new studies suggest that research and development spending and patent activity held up remarkably well.
In its annual survey of the 1,000 largest corporate spenders on research and development, released this week, Booz & Company reported that their R&D budgets rose 5.7 percent in 2008. The rate of increase was less than in 2007, when R&D spending rose 10 percent. Still, it was an increase. And the consulting firm’s survey found that 70 percent of the companies plan to maintain or increase R&D outlays in 2009.
Innovation Spending Looks Recession-Resistant
