A little snippet from the DTI, which has just published its league table of global R&D expenditure. Top of the list is Ford, with GM and DC in third and fourth place.

Of the top 20 R&D spenders, six are from the automotive industry, six from the pharmaceutical sector and the rest cover a range of industries from software – Microsoft – through to Telecoms – Nokia.

Interesting that R&D spend in the auto business should be so high. But rather worrying when one considers that 30 per cent of that same expenditure is spent in order to comply with legislation as opposed to develop new stuff. Have a look at the whole Peak Oil debate, and it soon becomes clear where the money should be spent at present.