Global R&D investment still rising in 2012. According to the Battelle Institute (2012 Global R&D Funding Forecast), statistics compiled by the major global institutions (OECD, IMF, World Bank) suggest that R&D is unlikely to be affected by the crisis in 2012. $1402 billion will be invested in the research and development sector this year throughout the world, which will benefit around 6 million working researchers. Despite the crisis, R&D budgets are rising for the third year in a row (+5.2% compared to 2011). Around 40 countries are even more ambitious in their R&D activities. The US is at the top of the league with $436 billion provided in funding, $208 billion allocated to the private sector. This was despite the small -$1.9 billion cut decided for 2012. China has now consolidated its second place in the league table, with $199 billion, ahead of Japan with its $157 billion funding. Behind this leading trio, there are very few changes to previous years: Germany is still the biggest investor in R&D in Europe ($90 billion), followed by South Korea ($56.4 billion), France ($51.1 billion) and the United Kingdom ($42.4 billion). This year, Germany will spend 2.8% of its GDP on R&D, as opposed to 2.24% spent by France. The two countries spend the basically same percentage in the public sector (around 1% of GDP) but it is German companies that make the difference as France continues to suffer from an industry that has poor penetration of highly scientific sectors. Given recent trends, China's R&D activity is increasing at almost 10% a year, which suggests that it could be the top R&D investor in the world by 2025, if this tempo is maintained. Asia has also become the continent targeted by US industrial leaders in the research sector. China is the most targeted country, with a figure of 30% of US businesses investing there, followed by North America and India on an equal footing (24%). Europe is only in fifth place, with 16% of R&D centres planned for the future. India has also announced that it wants to be more active in this field and is planning on investing 2% of GDP in R&D by 2017. According to government plans, the country's R&D budget is expected to increase by around $8 billion a year over the next five years. Despite all this, Europe remains the promised land for high-level research. In terms of scientific publications, Europe continues to be on a par with the US (more than 300,000 publications in 2011). On this level, China and India are still unable to rival Europe because, at a global level, they do not, as yet, produce much original know-how. Companies are increasingly playing an important role in this knowledge-based race and remain a source of innovation and knowledge. For example, this year, giants such as Microsoft, Samsung, Intel, Toyota, Novartis and Roche will be injecting between $5 - 9 billion in R&D. Of all the different industrial sectors, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is experiencing the most remarkable growth. Businesses specialising in this area will effectively be injecting more than $230 billion this year as opposed to $229 billion last year. This exceptional growth is dominated by the US, which accounts for 60% of global research in this sector, ahead of Japan. Microsoft alone will inject almost $9 billion into R&D this year, ahead of Samsung ($8 billion). The US also has around 10 or so companies that are very proactive in this sector and which invest more than $2 billion a year in R&D. For example, Intel ($5 billion), IBM ($5 billion), without forgetting Cisco, Oracle, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Qualcomm and Apple. Activities that are currently in full expansion are cordless communications (stimulated by “cloud computing”), mobile internet and networks. (IL/transl.fl)