INNOVATION REPORT:Local firms reviewed in the study spent a total of just 3% of their revenues on R&D, compared with 5.1% by Japanese and 8.3% by Swiss

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 01, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Taiwanese firms should spend more on research and development (R&D) to boost their profitability, as global companies are shifting resources away from physical products to software and services and the change is paying off, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) said in a report yesterday.

Thirty-two Taiwanese firms made this year’s Global Innovation 1000 Study — two fewer than last year’s report — with R&D spending totaling NT$392.8 billion (US$12.44 billion), or 3 percent of their combined revenues, PwC Taiwan said.

The figure represents a 0.1 percent year-on-year increase in R&D investment, but the nation still lags behind the 3.5 percent investment seen in South Korea, 4.1 percent in Japan, 6.1 percent in the US and Switzerland’s 8.3 percent, the report said.

“The figures suggest room for improvement on the part of the nation’s firms, given the close and positive relationship between spending on R&D and profitability,” PwC Taiwan executive vice president Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said.    [FULL  STORY]