The top 100 most innovative companies in 2013

The top 100 innovative companies of 2013 show how original thinking can spur on profit growth, stock performance and create additional revenue streams.

Compiled by Thomson Reuters annually, in this years' list, the top 100 companies managed to generate $4.5 trillion in revenue, spend $223 billion on research & development and create more than 266,000 jobs.

The report says that this years' firms outperformed the S&P 500 for the third consecutive year by four percent in annual stock price growth and two percent in market cap weighted revenue growth. The study's methodology is based on four principle criteria: overall patent volume, patent grant success rate, global reach of the portfolio and patent influence as evidenced by citations.

The Thomson Reuters 2013 Top 100 Global Innovators, in alphabetical order, are:

The agency says that the intense competition in the mobile device space is driving innovation. Major players including Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Google make the list; BlackBerry, however, also inched on to the ranks due to a 38 percent surge in patent filings between 2010 and 2011, and 17 percent growth in patent filings between 2011 and 2012.

The surge in R&D spending among the top 100 is also noteworthy, with an overall spend of $223.2 billion in 2012 -- which is 8.8 percent higher than the firms on the S&P 500 last year.

North America continues to lead in the number of organizations it has on the list, with 46 this year, comprising 45 from the U.S. and one from Canada. Asia had the next highest, with 32, comprising 28 from Japan, 3 from South Korea and 1 from Taiwan. Europe contributed 22 honorees.

David Brown, managing director of Thomson Reuters IP Solutions said:

"Now in its third year, the Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators study provides further evidence that innovative organizations -- those that secure global patent protection for their intellectual property, continue to push the envelope with new technologies and invest more in R&D -- are those that outperform the S&P 500 on virtually every measure of business success. Since inception, the Top 100 have consistently seen increases in annual revenue greater than those of the S&P index."

Via: Thomson Reuters

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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com