Swiss corporations rank sixth worldwide in research spending

(CONNECT) The 12 Swiss companies that rank among the world’s top 500 in terms of research and development (R&D) spending invested a total of 34 billion euros in innovation in 2025. According to a statement, this puts Switzerland in sixth place in the global ranking – the same position as last year. These findings are taken from the latest edition of the Top 500 R&D study, published on 12 May by the audit and consulting firm Ernst & Young AG (EY Switzerland).

The United States leads the ranking: its 140 companies in the top 500 spent a total of 576 billion US dollars on research and development. China and Hong Kong follow in second place (120 billion euros), ahead of Japan (90 billion euros), Germany (79 billion euros), and South Korea (40 billion euros). In terms of R&D intensity – which is the percentage of revenue spent on R&D – Switzerland actually ranks third globally with an average of 8.4 per cent, behind Dutch (9.7 per cent) and North American companies. Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France follow.

Overall, the R&D budgets of the 500 companies with the highest R&D spending worldwide rose by 9.4 per cent compared to the previous year, while their combined revenue increased by 4.7 per cent. Although revenue for Europe’s top corporations stagnated on the whole, they nevertheless increased their R&D spending by about 5 per cent. Research investment grew even more dynamically in North America (+ 12 per cent) and the Asia-Pacific region (+ 9 per cent).

Seven of the top 10 companies that invest the most in R&D are based in the United States. Technology conglomerate Amazon has the lead, with the largest innovation budget of 96.2 billion euros (+ 23 per cent). In second place is Google’s parent company, Alphabet, with 54.2 billion euros (+ 24 per cent), ahead of Meta Platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram) with 50.9 billion euros (+ 31 per cent). The only two European companies in the top 10 are Volkswagen in 7th place (18.4 billion euros, + 2 per cent) and the Basel-based pharmaceutical company Roche in 8th place (14.3 billion euros, - 13 per cent). Novartis ranks 18th with R&D spending of 9.9 billion euros.

“Innovation is the key to long-term business success,” Stefan Rösch-Rütsche, Country Managing Partner of EY in Switzerland, is quoted as saying. “It should therefore give cause for concern if American companies consistently invest significantly more in research and development than European companies.”

Globally, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors have traditionally been the front-runners in terms of research intensity, followed by technology companies. In Europe, however, technology companies take the lead, ahead of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, the automotive industry, and the healthcare sector, including medical technology. ce/mm