Neither IRI's nor other industry sages' predictions or early estimates for R&D spending in 2003 foresaw the robust turnaround in R&D that actually occurred. Spending in 2003 by the top 100 U.S. companies increased from 2002 by 5.4 percent to $120 billion (Table 1). In retrospect, with better data now available, there is really no surprise, as sales for these same companies increased by 5.8 percent and profits were up a whopping 31.3 percent! Fortunately, R&D expense gains have again moved into the realm of real increase as the growth significantly outpaces inflation. Even more remarkable is the relative spending by those 91 companies that appear among the top 100 R&D spenders both years. These incumbents increased their R&D outlays by an average of 7.1 percent. The nine new additions to the top 100 increased their spending by 14.9 percent.
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