Ｔｈｅ Ｎｅｗ Ｃｏｍｐｅｔｉｔｉｖｅ Ｅｄｇｅ：Ｉｎｎｏｖａｔｉｏｎ

The New Competitive Edge: Innovation

In a 2005 study sponsored by Cisco Systems， 635 business and IT decision-makers from companies of all sizes ranked innovation as more important to their competitiveness than better education， lower wages， or reductions incorporate taxes. Not surprisingly， having the highest-quality product or service was the top-rated means of differentiating their businesses from the competition. And managers are doing more than just paying lip service to innovation. They're putting their money where their mouths are.

The world's top 1，000 corporate research and development spenders invested $384 billion in innovation in 2004，according to a survey by the consulting firm of Booz Allen Hamilton. This investment by the so-called Global Innovation represents between 80 percent and 90 percent of total RD spending by business worldwide. By comparison， innovation expenditures of the second 1，000 most active companies totaled only $26 billion in the same year.

While the lion's share of innovation investment continues to be made by developed countries， the rest of the world is catching up rapidly. RD spending in China and India grew at an annual rate of 21.1 percent between 1999 and 2004， according to Booz Allen Hamilton， compared to 6.5 percent for the Global Innovation.

創新——新的競爭力

2005年，在思科舉辦的一項研究中，各類商業和IT企業的635位的決策者認為創新比更好的教育更加重要，降低工資或削減公司稅更有助于提升競爭力。毫不奇怪，擁有最高質量的產品或服務是他們從競爭中脫穎而出的最好方式。而且經理們可不只是嘴上說說而已，他們為創新活動投入了金錢，那是他們的飯碗所在。

波士·亞倫·哈密爾頓咨詢公司的一項調查指出，2004年，世界前1000位花錢最多的公司研發機構在創新上投資了3840億美元。這項由所謂的“全球創新”進行的投資占到了全世界商業研發支出的80%-90%。相比之下，創新活躍程度居第二梯隊的1000個公司同年創新支出僅為260億美元。

雖然發達國家的創新投資繼續獨占鰲頭，但世界其他國家也正在奮力追趕。波士·亞倫·漢密爾頓咨詢公司指出，中國和印度的研發支出在1999年至2004年期間年均增長21.1%，而“全球創新”則年均增長6.5%。

（Joseph Leu/編譯）