2. Top R&D players
Source: OECD calculations based on JRC-OECD, COR&DIP© Database v.1., June 2017. Statlink contains more data. See chapter notes.
On average, top ICT corporations worldwide invest more than USD 11 million in R&D per IP5 patent family and up to USD 33 million in Israel.
The world’s top corporate research and development (R&D) investors are leading global players at the technology frontier and account for about 64% of all patent families filed at the five largest intellectual property offices worldwide (IP5). Looking at the extent to which these global players invest in R&D, diversify their technological and industrial activities, and use trademarks to compete helps to understand global trends and possible future developments.
The median investment in R&D by top corporate R&D investors in ICT industries varies between about USD 33 million (Israel) and USD 1.9 million (Korea) per IP5 patent family. Median R&D investment per patent in other industries varies between over USD 65 million (China) and USD 3.4 million (Japan). The latter may reflect different propensities to patent worldwide as well as the overall industry composition of economies.
Technological and industrial specialisation do not seem to go hand in hand among top corporate R&D investors. The top four technology areas in which companies specialise vary between median levels of less than 40% in Machinery and Construction to 85% or more in the case of Telecommunications and Scientific R&D. Conversely, in all sectors, 50% or more of the affiliates of top R&D investors operate in only four industries. This share goes above 80% in the case of food products. The median number of economies in which affiliates are located also varies, with most top R&D performers having affiliates in more than ten economies.
Remarkable differences also exist in terms of the extent to which top R&D investors rely on trademarks. In ICT industries, the median net sales per trademark amount to USD 285 million, compared to almost USD 320 million in other industries. In the latter case, the median values stem from more diversified industry and economy-specific patterns than have been observed for ICT companies, and from their upstream or downstream position in global value chains.
Definitions
Industry and technology specialisation ratios are built in a similar way to concentration ratios (CR). Industry specialisation (IS4) ratios reflect the share of affiliates accounted for by the top four industries in which companies’ affiliates operate over the total number of affiliates of these top R&D investors in a given industry. Technology specialisation (TS4) ratios reflect the share accounted for by the top four technology fields in which companies file patents over the total number of patents filed by these R&D investors in a given industry.
Source: OECD calculations based on JRC-OECD, COR&DIP© Database v.1., June 2017. Statlink contains more data. See chapter notes.
Source: OECD calculations based on JRC-OECD, COR&DIP © Database v.1., June 2017. Statlink contains more data. See chapter notes.
Industries are defined according to ISIC Rev. 4. The ICT sector comprises: ICT manufacturing industries (classes 2610, 2620, 2630, 2640 and 2680), ICT trade industries (4651 and 4652), ICT services industries (5820), Telecommunications (61), Computer programming (62), Data processing (631), and Repair of computers and communication equipment (951). Patent data refer to patent families filed at the top five intellectual property (IP) offices worldwide: the IP5 (www.fiveipoffices.org). Trademark data refer to new trademark applications filed at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EU IPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the US States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). R&D expenditures and net sales figures are in USD millions. Patent families are allocated by first filing date; trademarks by filing date. Patents and trademarks are allocated using information about the main industry of the applicant’s headquarters and rely on fractional counts. Figures may differ if different patent family types, IP authorities and/or time frames are considered. Comparisons across years are not provided, as top R&D performers and their structure are likely to change over time.