Every year management consulting Booz & Co. puts together a comprehensive report on the world's 1000 biggest spenders on research and development, and the connection between that spending and performance.

Booz & Co. senior partner Barry Jaruzelski told us that "in the US, Europe, and Japan that's fairly easy to put together, but to do it on every market, to get South Africa, China, India, Brazil, Russia, Israel, etc. takes a fair amount more effort."

There's an incredible amount of money in R&D. The top 20 companies alone spent $153.6 billion last year, which is more than a quarter of the total $603 billion by the world's 1000 biggest spenders. 

Here are last year's top 20 spenders:

Read the full report here

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