Siemens 2007 Annual Report Download - page 29

At a Glance 29
49% 15% 31% 5%
7%
€3.4
billion
2007
18%47% 28%
€3.1
billion
2006
How can you manufacture customized products at
affordable prices? How can you power a planet
hungry for electricity without damaging it? How can
disease be detected before it strikes? These are three
of the toughest questions of our time. And 32,500
Siemens researchers at locations in over 30 coun-
tries are working to fi nd the answers.
Our innovations are shaping the future of industrial
production. With the acquisition of UGS, we’re now
in a position to directly link – for the fi rst time –
virtual product and production design with the real
world of industrial automation. Implementing our
intelligent factory concept (see page 50 ff.), develop-
ers around the world will cooperate with customers,
partners and suppliers in real time to simulate en-
tire manufacturing processes down to the last detail
before real-life production begins. The result: faster
development and time-to-market, substantial cost
savings and a virtually limitless degree of produc-
tion fl exibility that will enable our customers to tai-
lor their offerings even more closely to their cus-
tomers’ individual specifi cations. Products that have
been completely manufactured, tested and assem-
bled in the virtual environment prior to real-world
production include aircraft, high-speed trains and
the latest gas turbines.
The second question concerns energy and the envi-
ronment. We invest some €2 billion a year in the
development of ecofriendly technologies and hold
roughly 30,000 patents – nearly half of all the inven-
tions in our patent portfolio – in the environmental
fi eld. At the same time, we offer products, systems
and services for virtually every aspect of power gen-
eration, transmission and utilization – in energy-
effi cient power plants, buildings, lighting devices,
home appliances, transportation systems and indus-
trial applications. Our solutions include everything
from virtual power plant networks, energy-saving
motors and the world’s largest, most effi cient gas
turbine to extremely reliable wind power systems
and the brightest, whitest LEDs on the market. And
we’re also developing the energy technologies of
tomorrow – for example, processes to capture and
securely store the CO2 emitted by fossil fuel power
plants.
As the world’s fi rst full-service diagnostics company
in the healthcare industry, we’re integrating innova-
tions in three fi elds: imaging, laboratory diagnostics
and healthcare IT. In the fi rst fi eld, we’re constantly
improving our range of computed tomography and
magnetic resonance scanners and ultrasound sys-
tems. In the second, we’re pioneering new laborato-
ry techniques and applications such as biomarker
solutions – which can help doctors diagnose cancer
as well as infections and coronary diseases at the
earliest possible stage – and the world’s fi rst magnet-
ic resonance / positron emission tomography
(MR / PET) system, which can pinpoint illnesses like
Alzheimer’s disease long before the fi rst symptoms
appear. In the third fi eld, we offer advanced elec-
tronic networks that link clinical data across the en-
tire healthcare continuum, eliminating barriers in
communication, collaboration and decision-making
between hospitals, doctors’ offi ces, pharmacies and
insurers. Integrating these innovations is enabling
us to realize our vision of fully personalized medi-
cine – treatments optimized for each individual pa-
tient – and usher in a new era of knowledge-based
preventive medicine.
Industry Energy Healthcare Other activities
Research and development*
* Continuing operations
At September 30, 2007, the Industry Sector comprised the businesses
of the Groups Automation and Drives, Industrial Solutions and
Services, Transportation Systems, Siemens Building Technologies, and
OSRAM; the Energy Sector comprised the businesses of the Power
Generation Group and the Power Transmission and Distribution Group;
and the Healthcare Sector comprised the businesses of the Medical
Solutions Group.
In fi scal 2007, Siemens
researchers submitted
8,267 in vention
reports,* seven percent
m ore than the year
before. We fi led 5,060
patent applications,
an 11 percent increase
over fi scal 2006. On
average, we generat-
ed 38 inventions and
23 patent applications
per workday.