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Which are the most innovative economies in 2021?

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Global Innovation Index 2021

The 2021 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) presents the latest global innovation ranking of 132 economies, relying on 81 different indicators. While tracking the most recent global innovation trends in the new Global Innovation Tracker, this edition also focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on innovation.

The GII's overall formula for measuring an economy's innovative capacity and output provides clarity for decision makers in government, business and elsewhere as they look forward to creating policies that enable their people to invent and create more efficiently.

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The world’s most-innovative economy in 2021 is Switzerland followed by Sweden, the United States of America (U.S.), the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Republic of Korea, according to the GII 2021 rankings.

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In spite of the human and economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and enterprises in many parts of the world have increased their investments in innovation. Scientific output, expenditures in research and development (R&D), intellectual property filings and venture capital (VC) deals continued to grow in 2021, building on strong pre-crisis peak performance.

The Global Innovation Tracker is a new feature of the Global Innovation Index 2021 that captures key innovation trends. It uses a set of indicators identified in the three stages of the innovation journey:

"As the world looks to rebuild from the pandemic, we know that innovation is integral to overcoming the common challenges that we face and to constructing a better future. The Global Innovation Index is a unique tool to guide policy-makers and businesses in charting plans to ensure that we emerge stronger from the pandemic."

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Since its inception in 2007, the GII has shaped the innovation measurement agenda and become a cornerstone of economic policymaking, with an increasing number of governments systematically analyzing their annual GII results and designing policy responses to improve their performance.

Published anually, the core of the GII provides performance measures and ranks 132 economies on their innovation ecosystems. The Index is built on a rich dataset – the collection of 81 indicators from international public and private sources – going beyond the traditional measures of innovation since the definition of innovation has broadened.

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2020 – Who Will Finance Innovation?

The GII 2020 shed light on the state of innovation financing by investigating the evolution of existing mechanisms and pointing to progress and remaining challenges.

2019 – The Future of Medical Innovation

The GII 2019 analyzed the medical innovation landscape of the next decade, looking at how technological and non-technological medical innovation will transform the delivery of healthcare worldwide.

2018 – Energizing the World with Innovation

The GII 2018 analysed the energy innovation landscape of the next decade and identifies possible breakthroughs in fields such as energy production, storage, distribution, and consumption.

2017 – Innovation Feeding the World

The GII 2017 reviewed the state of innovation in agriculture and food systems across sectors and geographies.

These countries spend the most on research and development

Sparking ideas: R&D is essential to ensuring economic growth Image:  REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

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• World Bank data from 2017 and 2018 shows which countries invest heaviest in R&D.
• Some smaller countries are out-spending much larger economies in this area.
• R&D can help usher in a new, post-pandemic era of sustainable economic growth.

Investment in research and development (R&D) is the lifeblood of many private sector organizations, helping bring new products and services to market. It’s also important to national economies and plays a crucial role in GDP growth.

As we recover from the pandemic, R&D will play a key role in underpinning private sector growth and job creation, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, said at the opening of the World Economic Forum's Pioneers of Change summit.

The World Bank analyzed the most recent available data on which countries spend the largest proportion of GDP on R&D activities. While the data predates the pandemic, it helps shine a light on how funding research can bolster economic competitiveness. The top five are: Israel, South Korea, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan .

Here is a summary of the top three nations in the World Bank’s list.

In 2018, Israel spent 4.95% of GDP on R&D, according to the World Bank. One of its most important economic sectors is technology. Its tech sector benefits from an influx of skilled, educated engineers and technicians who moved there in the early 1990s, according to the OECD.

South Korea

Between 1960 and 2019, South Korea recorded GDP growth averaging 7.3% per year. Much like Israel, the country has a booming tech industry. It also has a large defence sector – its border with North Korea is one of the most heavily militarized places in the world. As well as impressive GDP growth, South Korea’s exports have been healthy too, growing by an average of 16% per year between 1961 and 2019 . It spent 4.81% of GDP on R&D in 2018, according to World Bank data.

Switzerland

The data for Switzerland relates to 2017, when the landlocked European country spent 3.37% of GDP on R&D. The services sector is by far the biggest Swiss economic engine, generating almost three-quarters of total GDP . By comparison, agriculture is worth around just 1%, with the rest coming from industry. Switzerland’s main export market is the European Union – while not a member of the EU, it is party to a number of treaties that allow it to trade freely with EU nations. Among its main industrial sectors are pharmaceuticals, and of course watches – which keep 9% of exports ticking along.

Larger economies are lagging behind

The world’s two largest economies, the US (2.84%) and China (2.19%), are ranked at numbers nine and 13, respectively, in the World Bank list. Both figures are based on 2018 data.

Europe’s largest economy, Germany, comes in seventh, with 3.09% of GDP dedicated to R&D in 2018. One of Europe’s other large economies, the UK – which has decided to leave the European Union – is ranked 21st by the World Bank. Just 1.72% of GDP went toward R&D in the same year.

At the World Economic Forum’s Pioneers of Change Summit , leaders from the public and private sector will discuss the role of innovation in helping shape national economic growth. There will be a particular focus on how this can play a part in the Great Reset , following the global pandemic’s economic disruption.

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World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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• NATURE INDEX
• 29 April 2020

Leading research institutions 2020

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The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing has topped the Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables list as the most prolific producer of research published in the 82 selected journals tracked by the Index (see Graphic).

CAS’s Share of 1805.22 in 2019 was almost twice that of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which came in second. Research institutions from China, the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom feature among the ten most prolific institutions in the Index. See the 2020 Annual Tables Top 100 research institutions for 2019 .

(Share, formerly referred to in the Nature Index as Fractional Count (FC), is a measure of an entity’s contribution to articles in the 82 journals tracked by the index, calculated according to the proportion of its affiliated authors on an article relative to all authors on the article. When comparing data over time, Share values are adjusted to 2019 levels to account for the small annual variation in the total number of articles in the Nature Index journals. The Nature Index is one indicator of institutional research performance. See Editor’s note below.)

Source: Nature Index

Here is a selection of institutions from the top 25 of the Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables .

University of Science and Technology of China

Share: 455.82; Count: 1,231; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): +25.6%; Place: 8th

Established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1958 in Beijing (then known as Peking), the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) moved to its current location in Hefei, the capital of the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, in 1970.

Today, it employs about 16,000 students, including 1,900 PhD students, as well as 1,812 faculty members, 547 of which are professors.

Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables

The institution’s strongest subjects in the Nature Index are chemistry and physical sciences. USTC is a global collaborator, counting the Max Planck Society in Munich, Germany, the University of Oxford, UK, and Stanford University in California among its close partners.

In 2019, USTC researchers were part of an international team that discovered a stellar black hole with a mass 70 times greater than that of the Sun. The findings, published in Nature , were mentioned in more than 300 tweets and nearly 200 news stories, according to Altmetric.

University of Michigan, United States

Share: 343.45; Count: 939; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): − 3.3%; Place: 19th

Placed first among public universities in the United States for research volume, according to the US National Science Foundation, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor encompasses 260,000 square metres of lab space, which is accessed by students and staff in 227 centres and institutes across its campus.

With US$1.62 billion in research expenditure and more than 500 new invention reports in the fiscal year 2019, the University of Michigan is focused on innovative areas in research, including data science, precision health and bioscience. Its Global CO 2 Initiative, launched in 2018, aims to identify and pursue commercially sustainable approaches that reduce atmospheric CO 2 levels by 4 gigatons per year.

A 2019 study published in Science on honesty and selfishness across cultures, led by behavioural economist Alain Cohn, was covered by almost 300 online news outlets and reached more than 22 million people on Twitter, according to Altmetric. The study, which tested people’s willingness to return a dummy lost wallet, revealed a ‘high level’ of civic honesty.

University of California, San Diego, United States

Share: 340.85; Count: 1,048; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): − 1.2%; Place: 20th

With US$1.35 billion in annual research funding, the University of California, San Diego, is a force in natural-sciences research, particularly in oceanography and the life sciences.

Its health-sciences group, which includes the School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, brought in US$761 million in research funding in the fiscal year 2019, and Scripps Oceanography, one of the world’s oldest and largest centres for research in ocean and Earth science, won $180 million in funding.

The university also has a focus on innovation, with more than 2,500 active inventions, 1,870 US and foreign patents, and 31 start-ups launched in 2018 by faculty members, students and staff. One such start-up was CavoGene LifeSciences, which aims to develop gene therapies to treat neurodegenerative disease.

Zhejiang University, China

Share: 329.82; Count: 815; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): +10.5%; Place: 23rd

Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, is part of the Chinese government’s Double First Class Plan, which aims to develop several world-class universities by 2050. It employs 3,741 full-time faculty members and partners with nearly 200 institutions around the world.

Zhejiang’s total research funding reached 4.56 billion yuan (US$644 million) in 2018, with 926 projects supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Fund and 1,838 Chinese invention patents issued. The university is home to materials scientist Dawei Di, who was listed as a top innovator under 35 by MIT Technology Review in 2019 for his work on organic light-emitting diodes and perovskite light-emitting diodes.

In 2019, Zheijiang researchers published a Science paper with an international team that proposed a method for boosting plant growth while reducing water use, which could contribute to more sustainable agriculture practices.

Northwestern University, United States

Share: 317.12; Count: 762; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): − 7.6%; Place: 25th

Founded as a private research university in 1851, Northwestern University, based in Evanston, Illinois, now also has campuses in Chicago and Doha, Qatar, and employs 3,300 full-time research staff. It has an annual budget of US$2 billion and attracts more than US$700 million for sponsored research each year.

The fastest-rising institution in the United States in high-quality life-sciences research output, Northwestern University was also 14th in the world in chemistry in the Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables .

Its star researchers include mathematician Emmy Murphy, one of six recipients of the 2020 New Horizons Prize for her work in the field of topology — the study of geometric properties and relationships — and physicist John Joseph Carrasco and neuroscientist Andrew Miri, who in February were awarded prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01230-x

This article is part of Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables , an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content.

Editor’s note: The Nature Index is one indicator of institutional research performance. The metrics of Count and Share used to order Nature Index listings are based on an institution’s or country’s publication output in 82 natural-science journals, selected on reputation by an independent panel of leading scientists in their fields. Nature Index recognizes that many other factors must be taken into account when considering research quality and institutional performance; Nature Index metrics alone should not be used to assess institutions or individuals. Nature Index data and methods are transparent and available under a creative commons licence at natureindex.com .

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Cross-National Comparisons of R&D Performance

Two key indicators of national R&D performance are gross domestic expenditures on R&D (GERD)—a measure of a country’s total R&D investment—and national R&D intensity (GERD-to-GDP ratio)—a measure of a country’s investment in R&D relative to its overall economic activity. Together, they paint a broad picture of the current distribution of global R&D activities and the changing global R&D landscape as countries build capabilities in science and technology to improve their national economy and society.

This section compares R&D performance in the United States with other major R&D-performing nations globally, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, India, and the United Kingdom as well as key regional and geopolitical groupings, such as the European Union (EU-27) and East-Southeast and South Asia. It also presents cross-national analyses of trends in the composition of R&D by sector and by R&D type.

The national R&D expenditures presented in this report are from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Main Science and Technology Indicators and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics. The global R&D total is estimated by NCSES based on these sources and reflects R&D performance by 119 countries with reported annual R&D expenditures of $50 million or more. Main Science and Technology Indicators (September 2021 edition) and from R&D statistics for additional countries assembled by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (March 2021 release). Presently, no database on R&D spending is comprehensive and consistent for all nations performing R&D. The OECD and UNESCO databases together provide R&D performance statistics for 163 countries, although the data are not current or complete for all. NCSES’s estimate of total global R&D reflects 119 countries, with reported annual R&D expenditures at or above \$50 million annually, which accounts for most of the current global R&D." data-bs-content="NCSES’s estimates for total global R&D are based on OECD’s Main Science and Technology Indicators (September 2021 edition) and from R&D statistics for additional countries assembled by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (March 2021 release). Presently, no database on R&D spending is comprehensive and consistent for all nations performing R&D. The OECD and UNESCO databases together provide R&D performance statistics for 163 countries, although the data are not current or complete for all. NCSES’s estimate of total global R&D reflects 119 countries, with reported annual R&D expenditures at or above \$50 million annually, which accounts for most of the current global R&D." data-endnote-uuid="fdd3a1ee-d294-44c2-80ae-2e2eab5b201a">​ NCSES’s estimates for total global R&D are based on OECD’s Main Science and Technology Indicators (September 2021 edition) and from R&D statistics for additional countries assembled by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (March 2021 release). Presently, no database on R&D spending is comprehensive and consistent for all nations performing R&D. The OECD and UNESCO databases together provide R&D performance statistics for 163 countries, although the data are not current or complete for all. NCSES’s estimate of total global R&D reflects 119 countries, with reported annual R&D expenditures at or above $50 million annually, which accounts for most of the current global R&D. These countries account for most of the current global R&D.

R&D expenditures for all countries are reported in current U.S. dollars (not adjusted for inflation) using purchasing power parities (PPPs). PPPs convert different currencies to a common currency while adjusting for differences in price levels between economies. The use of PPPs thus enables direct comparisons of R&D expenditures across countries. (See the Technical Appendix for more details.)

The regional analysis focuses on the regions with the largest R&D expenditures: North America (United States, Canada, and Mexico), Europe (including the EU-27 member countries), and the portion of Asia that includes the regions of East-Southeast Asia (including China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan), and South Asia (including India and Pakistan). The groupings of countries into regions are from The World Factbook (CIA 2021) .

Patterns and Trends in Total National R&D

Country and regional patterns in total national r&d, 2019.

The estimated total for global R&D expenditures in 2019 is just over $2.4 trillion ( Figure RD-5 ). Global R&D performance is concentrated in the following geographic regions: East-Southeast and South Asia (combined R&D expenditures of $955.0 billion, or a 39% share of global R&D), North America ($706.1 billion, or 29%), and Europe ($529.6 billion, or 22%). All other regions combined account for 10% of global R&D performance.

Global R&D expenditures, by region: 2019

PPP = purchasing power parity.

Foreign currencies are converted to dollars through PPPs. Some country data are estimated. Countries are grouped according to the regions described by The World Factbook (CIA 2021).

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, estimates as of December 2021. Based on data from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, M ain Science and Technology Indicators (September 2021 edition), and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Institute for Statistics, Science Technology and Innovation data set (March 2021 release).

Science and Engineering Indicators

R&D performance is even more concentrated when comparing individual countries. The United States and China lead R&D performance globally, jointly accounting for half of global R&D ( Figure RD-6 ). The United States performed $668.4 billion (28%) of global R&D in 2019. U.S. trends section. For consistency with international standards, U.S. GERD includes federal capital funding for federal intramural and nonprofit R&D (typically totaling just over \$1 billion annually) in addition to what is reported as U.S. total R&D." data-bs-content="U.S. GERD in this section differs slightly from the U.S. total R&D reported in the U.S. trends section. For consistency with international standards, U.S. GERD includes federal capital funding for federal intramural and nonprofit R&D (typically totaling just over \$1 billion annually) in addition to what is reported as U.S. total R&D." data-endnote-uuid="7947339f-3ff7-40b9-b0a7-46abb64245f0">​ U.S. GERD in this section differs slightly from the U.S. total R&D reported in the U.S. trends section. For consistency with international standards, U.S. GERD includes federal capital funding for federal intramural and nonprofit R&D (typically totaling just over $1 billion annually) in addition to what is reported as U.S. total R&D. China followed, with $525.7 billion (22%) of global R&D.

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GERD and R&D intensity for world's top 17 R&D-performing countries and economies: 2019 or most recent data year

GERD = gross domestic expenditure on R&D; PPP = purchasing power parity.

Top 17 R&D-performing countries or economies (based on annual GERD). Data for most countries are from 2019; data for India, Brazil, and Australia are 1 year or 2 years earlier. National R&D intensity is the ratio of gross domestic expenditures on R&D to gross domestic product.

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Patterns of R&D Resources (2019–20 edition); Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Main Science and Technology Indicators (September 2021 edition); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Institute for Statistics, Science Technology and Innovation data set (March 2021 release).

The next tier of top R&D performers includes Japan (7% of global R&D), Germany (6%), and South Korea (4%), each with R&D expenditures above $100 billion. Together with the United States and China, these countries accounted for two-thirds of global R&D in 2019.

France, India, and the United Kingdom make up the third tier of top R&D performers, each with R&D expenditures above $50 billion, or around 2%–3% of the global R&D total. The fourth tier includes Russia, Taiwan, Italy, and Brazil, each with R&D expenditures from $36 billion to $45 billion, or 1.5%–2.0% of the global R&D total. Canada, Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands, and Australia follow, with R&D expenditures between $22 billion and $30 billion, or about 1% of the global R&D total each.

These top 17 R&D-performing countries collectively performed 87% of the global R&D in 2019 ( Figure RD-6 ). Many other countries also perform R&D but do so at a comparatively much smaller scale ( Table RD-5 ).

International comparisons of gross domestic expenditures on R&D and R&D share of gross domestic product, by region, country, or economy: 2019 or most recent year

GDP = gross domestic product; GERD = gross domestic expenditure on R&D; G20 = Group of Twenty; OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; PPP = purchasing power parity.

a Data for U.S. GERD differ slightly from the U.S. total R&D data tabulated earlier in this report. For better consistency with international standards, U.S. GERD includes federal capital funding for federal intramural and nonprofit R&D, in addition to what is reported as U.S. total R&D.

b Data for the European Union (EU) include the 27 EU member countries.

Year of data is listed in parentheses. Foreign currencies are converted to dollars through PPPs. Countries in this table have an annual GERD of $500 million or more. Countries are grouped according to the regions described by The World Factbook (CIA 2021). Data for Israel are civilian R&D only. See sources below for GERD statistics on additional countries.

Trends in Total National R&D

Total global R&D expenditures continue to rise substantially as countries intensify their R&D efforts. Global R&D expenditures increased more than threefold from 2000 ($725.0 billion) to 2019 ($2.4 trillion) ( Figure RD-7 ). The annual increase in global total R&D averaged 6.9% over the 2000–10 period and 6.2% for 2010–19.

Global R&D expenditures, by region: 2000, 2010, and 2019

• Gross domestic spending on R&D

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Gross domestic spending on R&D is defined as the total expenditure (current and capital) on R&D carried out by all resident companies, research institutes, university and government laboratories, etc., in a country. It includes R&D funded from abroad, but excludes domestic funds for R&D performed outside the domestic economy. This indicator is measured in USD constant prices using 2015 base year and Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) and as percentage of GDP

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World Development Report 2023

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Historical rankings based on the total R&D expenditures are provided in the table below. Data may be sorted by rank within each year. To view selected data for a specific institution, click on the institution name.

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Harvard again tops a global ranking of universities.

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For the 13th year in a row, Harvard tops the rankings of global universities compiled by the Center ... [+] for World University Rankings. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

For the 13th year in a row, Harvard University has been ranked as the world’s leading university by the Center for World University Rankings . Now in its thirteenth year of providing such rankings, the 2024 CWUR lists the top 2000 universities out of 20,966 institutions evaluated across the globe.

This year, the global top-10 was as follows:

1. Harvard University

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3. Stanford University

4. University of Cambridge

5. University of Oxford

6. Princeton University

7. Columbia University

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8. University of Pennsylvania

9. Yale University

10. California Institute of Technology

This marks the sixth year in a row that Harvard, MIT and Stanford have taken the first three spots in that order. In CWUR’s 2018-19 rankings, Harvard ranked first, with Stanford taking second and MIT in third place.

Of the top ten universities for 2024, eight were in the U.S. the other two were British institutions — the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford.

Rounding out the top-25 universities were:

11.University of Chicago

12.University of California, Berkeley

13.University of Tokyo

14.Cornell University

15.Northwestern University

16.University of Michigan

17.University of California, Los Angeles

18.Johns Hopkins University

19.PSL University (France)

20.University College London

21.Duke University

22.University of Illinois

23.University of Tornoto

24.New York University

25.University of Washington

Methodology

CWUR evaluates universities on these four factors:

Education is based on the academic success of a university’s alumni, measured relative to the university's size (25%)

Employability is determined by the professional success of a university’s alumni, measured relative to the university's size (25%)

Faculty is measured by the number of faculty members earning top academic distinctions (10%)

Research is based on a composite of four indicators:

i) Research Output — the total number of research papers (10%);

ii) High-Quality Publications — the number of research papers appearing in top-tier journals (10%);

iii) Influence — the number of research papers appearing in highly-influential journals (10%);

iv) Citations — the number of highly-cited research papers (10%).

National Comparisons

The U.S. had the most universities in the top 2000 with 329; 19 of the top 25 universities were in the U.S., and all eight of the institutions in the Ivy League placed in the top 70. China had 324 institutions in the top 2000, and Japan had 110 top-2000 institutions.

There were 92 institutions in the United Kingdom among the top 2000 schools, led by the University of Cambridge, which was judged to be the top public university in the world for the 11th year in a row. France had 73 representatives in the top 2000, while Russia had 46 institutions.

The news comes at a good time for U.S. universities, which have recently been rocked by charges of antisemitism and Islamophobia, prolonged campus demonstrations over the war in Gaza, enrollment declines, and waning public confidence.

Because of a methodology that relies on quantitative indictors and that emphasizes research, CWUR’s rankings may be less subject to shifts in opinions about reputation sampled in other ranking systems. In addition, the numbers it calculates have considerable lag built into them so even those factors that might reflect public opinion, like graduates’ employability, are unlikely to reflect current attitudes.

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20 largest r&d companies in the world.

In this article, we will be taking a look at the 20 largest R&D companies in the world. If you want to go straight to the top five companies, you can go directly to see the   5 Largest R&D Companies in the World .

Research and Development (R&D) refers to activities that organizations, including businesses and governments, engage in to innovate processes, services, or products. If more R&D means more innovation, 2022 was the best year because, according to a United Nations (UN) report , global patent application rose to over 278,000. The report notes that the patent applications represent the “highest number ever recorded in a single year”.

But the sudden influx of new patent applications does not come out of thin air. For example, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022 , the number of scientific articles – usually, the results of R&D are communicated through scientific articles – crossed the 2 million market for the first time in 2021. This suggests that much more money has been spent in the past few years to fund researchers. Their studies are only starting to generate positive returns. But who is funding the R&D?

Both governments and private sector fund scientists to help them answer specific questions or solve a particular problem. From a general perspective, investment in innovation has grown tremendously over the past two decades. For example, according to the United States’ National Science Board , global R&D expenditure in 2000 was around $726 billion, but the value tripled to approximately $2.4 trillion in 2019. While the US has led the global R&D expenditure (on country basis) for many decades, this lead has been increasingly narrowing. For example, the US share of global R&D expenditure was 37.1% in 2000, 29.0% in 2010, and 27.3% in 2019.

A similar dynamic is taking place in the private sector. Two decades ago, there was no company outside the US and the EU that competed among the top R&D spenders in the world. But the picture is different, especially in the past decade where more companies from Asia (particularly India and China) allocate a considerable part of their revenue to innovation. According to the latest Global Innovation 1000 study – this is PwC research conducted once every five years, the latest report was released in 2018 – corporates spend huge sums every year on R&D. Most of the leading companies in this ranking are also the most valuable globally. They are able to expend billions annually to R&D because their huge revenues. Also, the research reveals that the world’s top corporate innovators are overwhelmingly technology, motor vehicle, and biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Our Methodology

We chose 20 companies with highest R&D spending. This ranking of the world’s 20 largest R&D companies relies on the latest published annual reports of the companies for the calendar year 2022. When companies quoted R&D expenditure in currencies other than US dollars, we converted the figures to into USD using the exchange rate on December 31, 2022.

Largest R&D Companies in the World

20. astrazeneca plc (nasdaq: azn ).

R&D spending in FY2022: $9.762 billion

AstraZeneca focuses on oncology, biopharmaceuticals, and vaccines. The company spent about $9.762 billion on R&D in 2022, which was slightly higher than 2021. Some of its research and development expenses were related to developing new medicines for cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, immunology, rare diseases, and other areas. It also developed a COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with Oxford University, which was approved by several countries and the World Health Organization.

19. Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM )

R&D spending in FY2022: $9.79 billion

Toyota Motor is a Japanese multinational automotive company that produces and sells vehicles under four brands: Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino.

18. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META )

R&D spending in FY2022: $9.8 billion

Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, is an American multinational technology company that was founded in 2004. It owns various social media platforms and services, such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Meta Quest. It also has interests in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, cloud computing, and other domains. Meta Platforms spent about $9.8 billion on R&D in 2022, which was an increase of 38.67% from 2021.

17. General Motors Company (NYSE: GM )

R&D spending in FY2022: $9.80 billion

General Motors Company is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company that was founded in 1908. It produces vehicles under various brands, such as Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac.

16. Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS )

R&D spending in FY2022: $10 billion

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company that was founded in 1996. It focuses on oncology, biopharmaceuticals, and generics. The company spent about $10 billion on R&D in 2022. The money went to developing new medicines for malaria, neglected tropical diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, immunology, rare diseases, and other areas. It also pledged to invest $250 million in R&D for the treatment of malaria and neglected tropical diseases over the next five years.

15. Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE: MRK )

R&D spending in FY2022: $10.1 billion

Merck is an American multinational pharmaceutical company that develops and produces medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. It was founded in 1891 as the American subsidiary of the German company Merck Group, which it became independent from in 1917. Merck spent $10.1 billion on R&D in 2022, an increase from $9.9 billion in 2021.

14. Mercedes-Benz Group (OTCMKTS:MBGYY)

R&D spending in FY2022: $10.66 billion

Mercedes-Benz Group AG is a German multinational automotive corporation that produces and distributes premium and luxury cars, vans, trucks and buses.

13. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY )

R&D spending in FY2022: $11.1 billion

Bristol-Myers Squibb is an American multinational pharmaceutical company that manufactures prescription pharmaceuticals and biologics in several therapeutic areas, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psychiatric disorders. The company spent $11.1 billion on R&D in 2022, a slight decrease from 11.4 billion in 2021.

12. Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE )

R&D spending in FY2022: $11.4 billion

Pfizer is one of the world's premier biopharmaceutical companies that develops and produces medicines and vaccines for various diseases. It was founded in 1849 in New York, United States. One of its most notable products is the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which has been authorized for emergency use in many countries.

11. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ )

R&D spending in FY2022: $14.603 billion

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is a US-based multinational corporation that operates in three segments: consumer health, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The company's expenditure on R&D in 2022 was $14.603 billion, a 0.75% decline from 2021. J&J’s R&D spending represented 12.9% of its total revenue in 2022, down from 13.6% in 2021.

10. Roche Holding AG (OTCMKTS:RHHBY)

R&D spending in FY2022: $15.15 billion

Roche is a Swiss-based multinational healthcare company that operates in three divisions: pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and diabetes care. Its expenditure on R&D in 2022 was CHF14.05 billion (about $15.15 billion), a 2.7% increase from 2021. Roche's R&D spending represented 22% of its total revenue in 2022, down from 23% in 2021. The main R&D areas include oncology, immunology, neuroscience, infectious diseases and rare diseases.

9. Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA )

R&D spending in FY2022: $17 billion

Alibaba is a Chinese multinational e-commerce, technology, and entertainment company founded in 1999. It operates various online platforms, such as Alibaba.com, Taobao, Tmall, AliExpress, Alipay, Alibaba Cloud, and others. It also has interests in media, entertainment, logistics, health care, and other sectors. Alibaba spent approximately 110.5 billion yuan (about $17 billion) on R&D in 2022, which was an increase of 19% from 2021. The funds went to artificial intelligence, cloud computing, e-commerce, payment systems, logistics, digital media, and online services research.

8. Volkswagen Group (OTCMKTS:VWAPY)

R&D spending in FY2022: $17.1 billion

Volkswagen is a German multinational automotive company that produces passenger cars, commercial vehicles, motorcycles and engines. Volkswagen's total R&D costs in the automotive division in 2022 amounted to $17.1 billion, which represented 7.6% of its revenue. This expense increased by 12.2% compared to 2021, reflecting its focus on electrification, digitalization, new technologies and modular platforms. Volkswagen filed 5,638 patent applications worldwide for employee inventions in 2022, mainly in Germany, and in fields such as driver assistance systems, automation and connectivity, and alternative drive systems.

7. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC )

R&D spending in FY2022: $17.53 billion

Intel is a US-based multinational corporation that develops and manufactures microprocessors, chipsets, memory, storage, software and other technologies. Its R&D expenses for 2022 were $17.528 billion, a 15.39% increase from 2021. The expense represented 23% of its total revenue in 2022, up from 21.8% in 2021. The main R&D areas include process technology, packaging technology, CPU architecture, GPU architecture, AI accelerators, memory and storage solutions, software and security.

6. Tencent Holdings ADR (OTCMKTS:TCEHY)

R&D spending in FY2022: $17.7 billion

Tencent is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment company founded in 1998. It is the world's largest video game vendor and one of the most valuable companies. It provides various internet-related services and products, such as social networks, music, web portals, e-commerce, mobile games, internet services, payment systems, smartphones, and multiplayer online games.  The company spent about 114.5 billion yuan (about 17.7 billion U.S. dollars) on R&D in 2022, which was an increase of 28% from 2021. Some of the expenditure was related to artificial intelligence, cloud computing, automation, search engine, social networking, instant messaging, mass media, web browser, antivirus software, music, payment system, film production, video games, and online services.

Click to continue reading and see 5 Largest R&D Companies in the World .

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Disclosure: None.  20 Largest R&D Companies in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.

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World University Rankings 2023

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 include 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

This year’s ranking analysed over 121 million citations across more than 15.5 million research publications and included survey responses from 40,000 scholars globally. Overall, we collected over 680,000 datapoints from more than 2,500 institutions that submitted data.

Trusted worldwide by students, teachers, governments and industry experts, this year’s league table reveals how the global higher education landscape is shifting.

View the World University Rankings 2023 methodology

The University of Oxford tops the ranking for the seventh consecutive year. Harvard University remains in second place, but the University of Cambridge jumps from joint fifth last year to joint third.

The highest new entry is Italy’s Humanitas University, ranked in the 201-250 bracket.

The US is the most-represented country overall, with 177 institutions, and also the most represented in the top 200 (58).

Mainland China now has the fourth-highest number of institutions in the top 200 (11, compared with 10 last year), having overtaken Australia, which has dropped to fifth (joint with the Netherlands).

Five countries enter the ranking for the first time – all of them in Africa (Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Mauritius).

Harvard tops the teaching pillar, while Oxford leads the research pillar. Atop the international pillar is the Macau University of Science and Technology.

Overall, 1,799 universities are ranked. A further 546 universities are listed with “reporter” status, meaning that they provided data but did not meet our eligibility criteria to receive a rank, and agreed to be displayed as a reporter in the final table.

Read our analysis of the World University Rankings 2023 results

Download a copy of the World University Rankings 2023 digital report

To raise your university’s global profile with Times Higher Education , contact [email protected]

To unlock the data behind THE ’s rankings and access a range of analytical and benchmarking tools, click here

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Academic Insights

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ASU in top 1% of international university ranking list

Global 2000 list rates more than 20k universities for education, employability, faculty, research.

Professor Kelly Knudson points to locations where specimens have been collected in the archaeological chemistry laboratory in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. ASU has been ranked in the top 1% of universities world wide for education, employability, faculty and research. Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU

Arizona State University has been ranked in the top 1% of nearly 21,000 universities worldwide for education, employability, faculty and research, according to the 2024 edition of the Global 2000 list by the Center for World University Rankings.

The center uses objective indicators to rank 20,966 universities around the world. The rankings were released May 13.

Overall, ASU ranks 194th out of the total 20,966 institutions — in the top 1% — and 67th in the U.S.

For employability, ASU ranked 649th, or the top 5%.

Other rankings for ASU are:

•Regional rank (U.S. and Canada): 74th.

•Research rank: 150 th  — in the top 1%.

•Faculty rank: 266th — in the top 2%.

•Education rank: 451st — in the top 3%.

ASU ranked higher than Georgetown University, University of Illinois – Chicago, and Florida State University.

“ASU’s global recognition is a reflection of our innovative faculty members, their excellence in research and their impact on our younger generations as they prepare to help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges,” said Sally C. Morton, executive vice president of ASU's Knowledge Enterprise.

“This worldwide acknowledgment is a testament to the inventive spirit and visionary approach of our faculty, staff and students who collectively assume responsibility for the overall health of our global community.”

The Center for World University Rankings publishes the largest academic rankings of global universities. The rankings do not rely on surveys, instead using objective data points.

The center uses seven objective and outcome-based indicators grouped into four areas to rank the universities:

•One-quarter of the ranking score is education — based on the academic success of a university’s alumni, measured relative to the university's size.

•Another one-quarter is employability, based on the professional success of alumni, measured relative to the university's size.

•Research is worth 40% of the score and is measured this way: output, measured by the total number of research articles, 10%; high-quality publications, which is the number of research articles appearing in top-tier journals, 10%; influence, or the number of research articles appearing in highly influential journals, 10%; and the number of highly cited research articles, 10%.

•The center also measures the number of faculty members who have received top academic distinctions, for 10% of the score.

The Center for World University Rankings is a consulting organization providing policy advice, strategic insights and consulting services to governments and universities to improve educational and research outcomes. The global university rankings are known for objectivity, transparency and consistency.

ASU was also recently  rated highly for employability : The Global Employability University Ranking and Survey ranked ASU 34th among international universities and 13th among U.S. institutions for employable graduates.

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New research initiative tackles pressing global development issues

By alison fromme cornell sc johnson college of business.

Fundamental challenges in food insecurity, poverty, agriculture, health, education and markets form the focus of Collaboration for International Development Economics Research (CIDER) , a new initiative launched by the Office of the Provost, the SC Johnson College of Business, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Policy.

“CIDER builds on a long history of Cornell research and engagement in the economies of nations, particularly developing and emerging economies challenged by global economic forces,” said Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff. “This initiative expands the interdisciplinary focus of these efforts, bringing economists, social scientists, policy experts and agricultural experts together to pursue solutions to some of our most difficult global challenges.”

Hosted by the SC Johnson College, CIDER unites 24 faculty across campus and the world, along with students, staff, researchers and external partners, to create and share knowledge. CIDER’s activities will encompass research, workshops, seminars, internships, career mentoring and continuing-education coursework.

“We’re delighted to embark on this new collaborative effort in development economics,” said Andrew Karolyi, the Charles Field Knight Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. “CIDER taps into existing expertise and a grand legacy of intellectual leadership at Cornell going back decades. I can’t wait to see the tangible impact CIDER makes on campus and around the world.”

CIDER’s inaugural faculty director is Chris Barrett , the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and professor in the Brooks School.

“We expect CIDER will further reinforce Cornell's already formidable reputation in this space,” Barrett said. The university’s impact in development economics was established over many decades and reinforced when standard measures of poverty and food insecurity were developed here in the 1980s. Now, CIDER provides a forum to collaborate on large-scale projects, advance policy-relevant research and train early career scholars and practitioners.

Through a workshop hosted by CIDER on May 10, the center is already encouraging new collaborations in East African dryland drought research, risk management and policy.

The World Bank, the African Development Bank, private organizations and multiple East African national governments are currently investing nearly $1 billion in the region to address drought, Barrett said.

“The efficacy and the impact of these massive investments can be directly influenced by research findings,” he said. “Indeed, research by Cornell and partners going back to the late 2000s underpins the initiative. We’re now working to produce timely policy-relevant, clearly communicated and rigorous research that can inform that effort.”

Among other presentations at the workshop, Karlijn Morsink , Utrecht University economist and CIDER-affiliated adjunct associate professor at the Dyson School, discussed her work leading the evaluation of World Bank programs in the region and share opportunities for Cornell faculty and student involvement.

“This workshop and the collaborations it represents offer just one example,” Barrett said. “We look to scale this type of effort across a range of different domains.”

CIDER will also support early career mentoring through two formal programs. Structural Transformation of Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STARS) , an existing Cornell program, previously paired early career researchers who earned degrees in Africa with mentors at Cornell and affiliated institutions. Now under CIDER’s umbrella, STARS is open to scholars across all low- and lower-middle-income countries.

Additionally, a predoctoral program for scholars who have not yet earned advanced degrees will provide one to three years of research experience and professional development training with core faculty. One predoctoral fellow already began work in January, and three more arrive this summer.

Building professional networks, increasing research capacity, disseminating best practices in the field and shaping early career researchers for the next generation are at the heart of CIDER’s mission, Barrett said. “This is a really exciting venture.”

Alison Fromme is a writer for the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

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UoN ranks Top 6.8% Worldwide in CWUR 2024 Rankings.

The University of Nairobi has achieved a remarkable milestone, securing its position among the top 6.8% of universities worldwide in the prestigious Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) for 2024.This recognition reaffirms the institution's unwavering dedication to academic excellence and its pivotal role in shaping the landscape of higher education.

CWUR, renowned for its comprehensive and objective methodology, publishes one of the most significant academic rankings globally, spanning over 20,000 universities worldwide. It relies solely on objective indicators across four fundamental pillars: education, employability, faculty, and research. Distinctively, CWUR's methodology is devoid of surveys or university-provided data, ensuring an impartial assessment. By placing equal emphasis on student and faculty-related metrics, CWUR offers a comprehensive evaluation of institutional performance.

Positioned at 1416 out of 20,966 ranked universities globally, the institution has solidified its reputation as an epitome of academic excellence. Regionally, it stands strong at 36th place, underscoring its significance as a leading educational hub in its geographical sphere. Nationally, it proudly holds the top position, symbolizing Kenya's academic prowess and leadership in education. A closer look reveals the University of Nairobi's exceptional performance in research, securing the 1356th spot globally. This underscores the institution's commitment to advancing knowledge and fostering innovation. With an impressive overall score of 68.4%, the University of Nairobi exemplifies excellence across all dimensions, from teaching quality to research output.

The University of Nairobi's remarkable achievement in the 2024 CWUR rankings serves as both an inspiration and a testament to its relentless pursuit of excellence. It not only reaffirms the institution's distinguished reputation but also highlights its crucial role in shaping the future of academia, both nationally and globally. With its steadfast commitment to scholarly excellence, the University of Nairobi is poised to continue its journey towards greater heights, leaving an everlasting mark on the global stage of higher education.