It is our firm belief that we must continue to proactively develop our portfolio of solutions if we are to maintain and extend our current leading market position as an innovator with regard to the full range of processes that characterize the branch operations of retail banks and retailers. By developing new and extended functions, we also help our customers to remain competitive. In fiscal 2008/2009, the Group’s global spending on Research and Development was 2% lower at €103 million (2007/2008: €105 million). The R&D ratio rose 0.1 percentage points to 4.6% compared to last year’s figure of 4.5%.
The importance we attach to Research and Development is reflected in the structure of our workforce. The Group’s total R&D headcount on the reporting date was 956 (2007/2008: 945), equivalent to 10% of the entire workforce. They can be found at our development centers in Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Brazil, Singapore and China. In Asia, we have pooled our Research and Development capacity at our sites in Shanghai and Singapore. In the last 12 months, our developers have pushed ahead with a host of innovations, with the result that we were able to submit 83 new patent applications across the world (2007/2008: 94). The total number of active patent rights was 1,103 (2007/2008: 1,045).
History of R&D Expenses plus Embedded R&D Ratio in % of Net Sales. €m
