BIG R&D spenders

"A select group of the world’s 1,000 largest corporate R&D spenders perform significantly better than their competitors over a sustained period while spending less on R&D than their industry rivals"
http://www.innovation-america.org/index.php?articleID=243

I thought software industry invests R&D most, but the fact is that auto and pharmaceutical companies are the highest investors.
(However, actually, Microsoft was No.1 last year.)

RANK COMPANY R&D SPENDING HEAD- INDUSTRY R&D/ 2004
(in Millions) QUARTERS % SALES RANK
1 Ford 8,000 U.S. Auto 5 3
2 Pfizer 7,442 U.S. Health 15 2
3 Toyota 7,178 Japan Auto 4 5
4 Daimler-Chrysler 7,019 Germany Auto 4 4
5 General Motors 6,700 U.S. Auto 3 6
6 Siemens 6,546 Germany Industrials 7 7
7 Johnson & Johnson 6,312 U.S. Health 12 10
8 Microsoft 6,184 U.S. Software 16 1
9 IBM 5,842 U.S. Computing 6 9
10 GlaxoSmithKline 5,700 U.K. Health 14 11
11 Samsung 5,428 S.Korea Electronics 7 17
12 Intel 5,145 U.S. Computing 13 12
13 Volkswagen 5,071 Germany Auto 4 13
14 Sanofi-Aventis 5,025 France Health 15 31
15 Matsushita 4,989 Japan Technology 6 8
16 Novartis 4,846 Switz. Health 15 18
17 Nokia 4,753 Finland Electronics 11 15
18 Sony 4,698 Japan Electronics 7 14
19 Roche Holdings 4,578 Switz. Health 16 19
20 Honda 4,508 Japan Auto 5 16
Source: Booz Allen Hamilton Global Innovation 1000

Outrageous Optimism

What is the most important thing for a successful entrepreneur? The answer is today's title, Outrageous Optimism.

I am reading a book, which has the same title and was written by Jack Roseman, who was a professor in Tepper Business School. Actually, the book was one of the reading assignment in Entre class which I took in Mini3, but I hadn't finished reading it yet by the end of Mini3... Thus, on the way and back to Paris, I read this book. It was easy to read and interesting.

Too much eat

Today, I don't feel very good. My stomach was giving me trouble and my wife felt the same thing. Apparently, this is because of too much eating. We were too excited to eat French.

Actually, we took full-course lunches at a small restaurant in St-Germain des Pres yesterday. Then we ate sweet crepes before dinner. In addition we took full-course dinners. Today, we went to the same restaurant in St-Germain des Pres for lunch because that was amazing and I wanted to eat a scallop salad at the restaurant and then we ate a ramen, a Japanese noodle...

When we went to Korea last year, we did the totally same thing. Traveling foreign makes us to eat too much. We have to learn something.

Pittsburgh to Paris

I came to Paris yesterday. I wanted to go to Spain or Brazil because I have been to Paris already. However, my wife is pregnant and she wanted to go to Paris because she was a bread making teacher and she is really interested in cooking. This might be our last trip before giving a birth and thus I prioritized her preference. Anyway, so far, Paris is amazing. Beautiful buildings, people, foods... I cannot eat anymore today.

Ageless Song

"When I was youth, there were the gods
Mighty strength made my dream come true
Even after you have grown up,
a miracle happens in a morning you get up with a soft heart

Open the curtains
Sunbeams falling onto you might make you happy softly and warmly
Everything you can see is a message"

"Yasashisa ni tsutsumarete (優しさに包まれて)" by Yumi Arai, in 1974


Last week, I met my brother in NYC. He loves Hayao Miyazaki's movies and especially he likes "Kiki's Delivery Service" (魔女の宅急便)

Then, in the book I read yesterday, the writer, Mogi-san says that he is a big fun about Yumi, a famous singer song writer. The theme song of Kiki's Delivery Service is written by Yumi. It's been a while since I listened to the song.

Impelled by a sudden thought, I listened to the song, and I was really touched by lyrics to this song. Thus, I tried to translate the song into English though I have final exams during this week...

Brain Brain

Being impressed is equal to damaging brain. Thus, when the damaged part is recovered, creation happens.

I was impressed by this sentence in a Japanese book, "everything starts from brain", written by Kenichiro Mogi, a well-known brain scientist. However, I heard that a famous singer was so touched and then cried when she read this sentence. Her sensibility is amazing.

Has my brain been damaged by experiences in Tepper? Of course.

English Blog vs Japanese Blog

Since I came to Pittsburgh, I have been writing my blog in Japanese. However, my concern is that my English skills don’t improve if I write a Japanese blog everyday. So, I decided to make a new English blog. In addition, I made a rule that I can write the Japanese blog only after I write the English blog.

The result is... I have been not able to post a Japanese article for the last three days. It is really hard for me to write both blogs everyday.

However, today, I found a comment in my Japanese blog. The comments said that he likes my blog and he encouraged me to keep writing. I need to improve my processing limit. :-)