Thomson Reuters Names the World's Top 100 Most Innovative Organizations for 2012

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The IP & Science business of Thomson Reuters, the world's leading provider of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced its 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators list, honoring 100 corporations and institutions around the world that are at the heart of innovation as measured by a series of proprietary patent-related metrics. The full report is available at http://www.top100innovators.com.

Financial analysis of the acknowledged companies gives credence to their significance in that these organizations outperformed the S&P 500 by three percent in their market cap weighted revenue (15 percent versus 12 percent). This year's winners also added 124,214 new jobs over their prior year employment figures.

"Innovation is the foundation for economic prosperity and technological advancement," said David Brown, managing director, Thomson Reuters IP Solutions. "Our Top 100 Global Innovator methodology demonstrates the insight that can be gleaned from the analysis of patent data and confirms the fact that companies focused on innovating drive growth and financial success."

The Thomson Reuters 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators, in alphabetical order, are:

    3M Company                                               Eaton Corporation
    Advanced Micro Devices                                   EMC Corporation
    Alcatel-Lucent                                           Emerson
    Altera                                                   Ericsson
    Analog Devices                                           European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company
    Apple                                                    Exxon Mobil
    Arkema                                                   FANUC
    AT&T                                                     Ford
    Avaya                                                    FUJIFILM
    Boeing                                                   Fujitsu
    Brother Industries                                       General Electric
    Canon                                                    Goodyear Tire & Rubber
    Chevron                                                  Google
    CNRS, The French National Center for Scientific Research Hewlett-Packard
    Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique                        Hitachi
    Corning                                                  Honda Motor Company
    Delphi                                                   Honeywell International
    Denso Corporation                                        IBM
    Dow Chemical Company                                     IFP Energies Nouvelles
    DuPont                                                   Intel

    Jatco                                                    Ricoh
    John Deere                                               Roche
    Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology       Rockwell Automation
    Korea Electronics Technology Institute                   Saint-Gobain
    Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology          Samsung Electronics
    LG Electronics                                           SanDisk
    Lockheed Martin                                          Sandvik
    L'Oreal                                                  Scania
    LSI Corporation                                          Seagate
    LSIS                                                     Seiko Epson
    Marvell                                                  Sharp
    Michelin                                                 Shin-Etsu Chemical
    Micron                                                   Siemens
    Microsoft                                                Snecma
    Mitsubishi Electric                                      Solvay
    Mitsubishi Heavy Industries                              Sony
    Monsanto                                                 STMicroelectronics
    Motorola                                                 Symantec
    NEC                                                      TDK
    Nike                                                     TE Connectivity
    Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal                            Texas Instruments
    Nitto Denko                                              Thales
    NTT                                                      Toshiba
    Olympus                                                  Toyota Motor Corporation
    Panasonic                                                U.S. Department of the Army
    Pohang University of Science and Technology              U.S. Department of the Navy
    Procter & Gamble                                         United Technologies
    Qualcomm                                                 Valeo
    Raytheon                                                 Xerox
    Renault                                                  Xilinx

Academic Institutions & Government Entities
For the first time, academic institutions and government entities made the list. The two 2012 university recipients are both from South Korea: Pohang University of Science and Technology and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. "The addition of South Korean academic institutions confirms the role government can play in encouraging innovation, as well as the longer-term potential for corporations and academia to collaborate in bringing new ideas to fruition," said Mr. Brown.

The two government entities that made the list are from the U.S.: the Departments of the Army and the Navy, respectively. Research shows that the U.S. government has invested heavily in innovation, especially as related to matters of national security.

Molecule-Based vs. Technology-Based
The Top 100 methodology, by virtue of its criteria, favors fast-moving, hyper-competitive industries such as computer hardware and semiconductors, where product lifecycles are short and advancements in technology are demanded by users. These technology-based industries grew by 18 percent and 29 percent, respectively. "That is not to say, however, that other industries are not also innovating," said Mr. Brown. "R&D spend in pharmaceutical/chemical-focused industries is among the top in the world. Many organizations in these sectors are extremely innovative, yet they adhere to a different innovation model."

Global Distribution
The U.S. continues to lead in the number of organizations it has on the list, with 47 this year. Asia has the next highest, with 32, comprising 25 from Japan and 7 from South Korea. There was a 75 percent increase in representation from South Korea over the prior year; the new entrants included two from academia and two scientific research centers. Europe has 21 honorees, with the largest representation coming from France (13). Year over year there are a larger number of recipients from the U.S. and Asia, and fewer from Europe.

Industry Breakout
The semiconductor and electrical components industry continued to lead in 2012, with 18 representative companies, 29 percent more than in 2011. Computer hardware was the next most prolific industry, with 13 companies in this category. Other notable changes include a 133 percent increase in representation by the automotive industry (from three awardees in 2011 to seven in 2012) and a 40 percent increase in representation from transportation equipment manufacturing.

Methodology
The Thomson Reuters 2012 Top 100 Global Innovator 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 peer-reviewed methodology was executed using the Thomson Reuters Derwent World Patents Index(®) (DWPI), Derwent Patents Citations Index(TM), Quadrilateral Patent Index(TM), and Thomson Innovation(®), the IP and intelligence collaboration platform. Comparative financial analysis was done using the Thomson Reuters Advanced Analytics for Deal-Making platform.

For more information on the Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovator program and to download the full report, go to http://www.top100innovators.com.

Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 60,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

SOURCE Thomson Reuters