CHART: Here Are The 50 Global Companies That Spent The Most On R&D

Here's a great chart (courtesy of Rafat Ali) of the 2013 European Union Industrial R&D Scoreboard.

It shows the world's top 50 companies ranked by their total research & development investment (in euros).

The top R&D investor is the German carmaker Volkswagen (€9.5 billion, $13 billion), which moved up from third place last year.

Five U.S. companies made it to the top 10: Microsoft, Intel, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer. Overall the U.S. had 36 companies among the top 100 R&D investors, the EU had 28, and Japan had 22.

Check it out: