Briefs

Corporate spending on research and development is likely to decline
for the first time in eight years this year, analysts predict. Firms
such as Compaq, 3Com, and Lucent are cutting back due to profit
losses. As a result, the market may see fewer new computer chips,
software, and medical devices. In the process, productivity gains
could be hampered. The National Science Foundation says R&D spending
by American corporations, federal agencies, nonprofits, and
universities grew 56 percent to $264 billion from 1994 to
2000. Meanwhile, productivity climbed by an average of 2.5 percent
every year from 1996 to 2000.  Companies spent some $197 billion on
R&D spending in 2000; the figure could drop by 5 percent this year to
$188.5 billion, says F.M. Ross Armbrecht, head of the Industrial
Research Institute. A PricewaterhouseCoopers study reveals that 80
percent of executives in a survey plan to lower R&D outlays or keep it
steady.

Source: Baltimore Sun (11/24/01)