Siemens 2010 Annual Report Download - page 41

56 One Siemens 64 Vision 40 Directions
41 Focus on innovation-driven growth markets
43 Get closer to our customers
46 Use the power of Siemens
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Focus on innovation-driven
growth markets
A high level of investment in research and develop-
ment is essential for sustainable business growth.
In fiscal 2010, we invested €3.846 billion, or 5.1 per-
cent of our total revenue, in R&D activities. About
30,100 Siemens employees are currently involved in
research and development at 178 company loca-
tions in some 30 countries. Every workday, we file
an average of 40 invention reports and about 20
patent applications. We’re proud to rank No. 3 in
Germany, No. 2 in Europe and No. 13 in the U.S. in
patent applications. And we intend to improve these
rankings even further.
The key to achieving our goals is an open innova-
tion strategy that enables us to exploit global syner-
gies in order to cut costs, leverage innovative
strengths and increase competitiveness. Every year,
we participate in more than 1,000 partnerships with
universities, research institutions and industrial
companies, enhancing our innovation portfolio
worldwide. For instance, we’re partnering with en-
ergy providers in Germany and Finland and with
prestigious research institutes in the Netherlands to
develop technologies for the separation of CO2 at
power plants. Our aim in all these cooperative ef-
forts is marketability. For example, a joint research
project with the Technical University of Denmark
(DTU) in Copenhagen and the Technical University
of Berlin produced the Eco-Care Matrix, an innova-
tive solution that’s enabling Siemens VAI’s custom-
ers in the steel industry to perform objective, veri-
fiable environmental impact and cost-efficiency
assessments during the development phase. Tech-
nology-to-business (TTB) centers are a market-ori-
ented form of research cooperation. To foster break-
through innovations, we contribute funding and
expertise to independent startups that cooperate
closely with our partner universities. For example,
our TTB center in Berkeley, California was the incu-
bator for the IWLAN data transmission technology
that we developed for the manufacturing industry.
Our Healthcare Sector is collaborating with partners
to develop innovative phase-contrast X-ray imaging
systems that increase diagnostic precision by pro-
ducing very detailed images of various types of soft
tissue. We’re also implementing long-term develop-
ment projects in response to today’s megatrends.
For instance, we’re pushing the development of so-
lutions that improve the quality of healthcare
worldwide. In addition to the early detection and
treatment of disease, we’re focusing on optimizing
the efficiency of healthcare IT workflows to improve
patient care.
To curb global warming and achieve ambitious
climate goals worldwide, economic development
will have to be decoupled from energy consump-
tion – for example, through the use of energy-effi-
cient drives and lighting solutions, smart building
technologies and control systems for industrial pro-
“What each of the employees of Siemens
is involved with is helping America stake a claim
on a clean energy future.”
U.S. President Barack Obama, during his visit to our
production facility in Fort Madison, Iowa, on April , 
www.siemens.com/obama