The race has maintained its original ideals since it began in 1985 by focusing on teamwork, camaraderie, physical fitness and competition. The number of participating teams have grown from the original 19 in 1985 to nearly 300 which includes over 8000 runners.
Investments into R&D are key to maintaining and/or improving competitiveness for the long term, and Honeywell spent about $2.1 billion on it in 2016. If You Can't Beat 'Em, Buy 'Em Honeywell has a market capitalization of about $99 billion.
Research and development (R&D) represents a large and rapidly growing effort in both industrialized and semi-industrialized nations. In 1997 the United States spent $151 billion on industrial R&D and $32 billion on military R&D, for a total of $183 billion, equal to 2.5 percent of the gross national product (GNP). Similar ratios exist for economically advanced countries, such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan.