IBM, also called Big Blue on account of its size and the colour of its logo and packaging, is a company with revenues of $ 92.7 billion. It spent a huge sum of $ 5.4 billion on R & D last year ( 2014-15 ). Over the last three years, it spent $ 17 billion. On an average, if spends 6 per cent of its revenues on R & D per annum. IBM has been issued more than 7500 patents in 2014, and it continues its patent registration lead over other US companies for the last 22 years in a line. Arvind Krishna is IBM’s global research head.

Krishna manages 3000 researchers across a dozen locations in the world. Almost 2/3rd of these are Ph.DS. Some 300 researchers are devoted to mathematics. IBM has nurtured six Nobel laureates and as many Turing awardees in its 104-years history. It has 19 members from American Academy of Sciences, 23 members from the National Academy of Engineering, Fellows from IEEE and other top notch scientists.

In India, BSE 100 companies spend 1.32 per cent of revenues on R & D. As the process patent in pharma was ended, and product patent was initiated in 2005 by changing the law, pharma has reached up to 10 per cent in research spending in search of the new molecules. Auto companies too have started using 2-3 per cent of turnover on R & D. In retail, R & D will be low, and in FMCG it is to the extent of 0.5 per cent. Indian IT companies are moving up the value chain, and this will lead to more spend on R & D.Infosys has started using 2.4 per cent on R&D and is setting a centre of research. As competition is now global, Indian CEOS will take research seriously.