It is no secret that in tough economic times, corporate spending on research and development often takes a hit. So it should be no surprise that Technology Reviews annual survey of R&D expenditures by 150 top public companies reveals a mixed picture.

Spending levels at some of the worlds largest research-oriented organizations, including Microsoft and Siemens, continued to rise. But at a number of other companiesparticularly those within the economically troubled telecommunications and semiconductor sectorsspending shrank. Our Corporate R&D Scorecard shows that the picture is most dismal in telecommunications. The situation was slightly better at top semiconductor manufacturers Intel and Texas Instruments, both of which reported modest cuts in R&D budgets. Corporate frugality extended to other industries as well: a number of the traditional research powerhouses3M and DuPont, for examplealso trimmed budgets.