Canada’s Source of R&D Intelligence
Toronto - June 25, 2002 - Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List 2002 released today by Research Infosource Inc. includes 10 Alberta companies:
Nova Chemicals Corporation of Calgary is in 31stposition for fiscal 2001 down from 26th in 2000. Even with a 15% decrease in revenue, the company bumped R&D spending by 1.7%, from $60.9 million in 2000 to $61.9 million in 2001.
Syncrude Canada Ltd., headquartered in Fort McMurray, jumps 2 spots from 41 in 2000 to 39 in 2001. The company posted an impressive 30.5% increase in R&D expenditures, $37 million to $48.3 million from 2000 to 2001, despite a 3% drop in revenue.
Alberta Energy Company Ltd. of Calgary moved up 15 spots, 55 to 40 with a 75.5% increase in R&D spending, $27.4 million to $48.1 million from 2000 to 2001.
PanCanadian Energy Corporation moved into the top 100 to 41st postion with $47.2 in R&D in 2001.
Biomira Inc. of Edmonton drops from 37th position to 43rd with a modest 0.1% increase in R&D spending despite a healthy 556.2% growth in revenue.
Precision Drilling Corporation of Calgary is new to the list in 58th position with $32.4 million in R&D expenditures in 2001.
Westaim Corporation of Calgary plummets from 49th place in 2000 to 82nd in 2001. A 46.1% decrease in revenues resulted in a 35.4% drop in R&D expenditures ($30.1 million to $19.4 million).
Global Thermoelectric Inc. headquartered in Calgary charges up the list from 207th position in 2000 to 96th in 2001. In spite of a 43.7% drop in revenues, the company posted a 452.4% increase in R&D spending, going from $2.7 million to $15.1 million.
Suncor Energy Inc. breaks the Top 100 in 99th spot in 2001 with a $15 million R&D investment.
AltaRex Corp. of Edmonton moved from 92nd in 2000 to 66th in 2001. The company posted a 123.9% growth in R&D spending, going from $12 million to $26.9 million.
Three Alberta companies, Suncor Energy, Global Thermoelectric and AltaRex, were among the "Top 10 Gainers", firms that increased their R&D spending by 50% or more of revenues on R&D. Although Suncor headed the gainers list, the company's 650% increase in R&D expenditures represented only 0.4% of revenues. Biomira and Global Thermoelectic, on the other hand are among the most research-intensive (R&D expenditures as a percentage of revenue) companies, posting research intensities of 574.1 % and 98.2% respectively.
"It is positive to see R&D gains at many Alberta energy companies, but overall, R&D performance is still quite low in relation to revenues", says Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource.
Canada's leading firms invested $11.9 billion in research and development for fiscal 2001, up a modest 3% overall from $11.5 billion in 2000. However, Nortel Networks poor performance masked a healthy underlying trend, other Top 100 spending rose by 23.3%. Holding 1st place in R&D spending for fiscal 2001 is Nortel Networks ($5 billion), followed JDS Uniphase ($504.6 million) with Pratt and Whitney Canada ($440 million) in 3rd position, Magna International ($359.2 million) is 4th, and Ericsson Canada ($270 million) rounds out the top five.
Breaking the list down by province, 58 of the top 100 companies are headquartered in Ontario, 20 in Québec, 11 in B.C., 10 in Alberta and one in Manitoba.
The complete Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List is available on the Research Infosource website, www.researchinfosource.com. An in-depth Corporate R&D Spenders Report 2002, based on over nearly 600 companies, is slated for publication in July 2002.
Research Infosource Inc., a division of The Impact Group, is Canada's source of R&D intelligence. Drawing from an extensive database, Research Infosource Inc. publishes Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List, Canada's Top 50 Research Universities List, and specialized reports.
Information: Ron Freedman, CEO, Research Infosource Inc. (416) 481-7070 ext. 31
Janet Sandor, Director of Communications (416) 802-5526