The biggest R&D spenders in the tech sector

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nWith the usual Booz Allen Hamilton caveat that absolute levels of R&D spending offer little or now indication of how innovative a company really is, it is instructive every now and then to check out how much companies in the technology sector are spending on R&D. Recently, CIO Insight reported on the R&D spending patterns of the top 81 companies in the tech sector, pointing out that Microsoft, IBM and Intel are far and away the R&D spending champs. However, keep in mind that just because companies are spending a lot on R&D, it doesn’t mean they are planning a lot of cool new product launches in the immediate future:

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“The biggest technology companies have been pouring resources into product development, butndon’t look for a burst of innovative new business applications anytimensoon. A lot of the industry’s recent R&D spending has beennon consumer products—things such as games and Internet services. To thenextent that companies are developing business applications, their focusnis more on enhancing existing products than introducing new ones.”n

[chart: CIO Insight]

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