The R&D World Index saw a slight gain last week amidst a landscape of innovation and cost-cutting within global industries. Pharma giants Eli Lilly and Merck announced a partnership with Purdue University to launch the Young Institute Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Consortium, aimed at bolstering domestic pharmaceutical production. However, automotive supplier Continental AG revealed further job cuts in its R&D segment due to weak demand and competition, mirroring broader challenges within the European automotive sector. The week also saw strategic collaborations in the battery sector and the introduction of Apple’s iPhone 16e, featuring the company’s in-house developed cellular chip.
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
1. Pharma consortium formed by Lilly and Merck
[Courtesy of Lilly}
Lilly has already said it will invest $3 billion in these efforts, including expanding a manufacturing facility it bought in April 2024 and adding new capabilities to produce injectable medicines.
Lilly also recently invested $9 billion in an Indiana manufacturing site and opened a new facility in North Carolina.
Purdue’s Elizabeth Topp (Professor in the Department of Industrial and Molecular Pharmaceutics) said they’re very keen on having companies of all kinds join their consortium in the form of equipment donations or donations of computational resources.
Automotive & Manufacturing
2. Continental AG to cut 3,000 R&D jobs
Automotive supplier Continental AG, Hanover, Germany, announced last week that its automotive branch will cut 3,000 jobs in its R&D segment by the end of 2026. This action comes on top of 7,000 job cuts already announced in an overall restructuring program that has been in place for over a year. The company plans to reduce its R&D ratio to below 10% by 2027. Less than half of the job cuts will take place in Germany, with sites in Babenhausen and Frankfurt being the most affected, with a 12% and 5% reduction planned, respectively. Europe’s overall automotive sector is struggling with weak demand, higher production costs, and competition from China, which has led many companies to announce layoffs and plant closures.
3. CATL and Volkswagen sign battery MOU
[VW]
4. Mercedes-Benz to shift production abroad
[Courtesy of Mercedes]
5. Nikola Corporation files for bankruptcy
Electric truck maker Nikola Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona, filed for bankruptcy last week after struggling with high costs and an industry reluctant to abandon diesel engines. The company plans to wind down operations following a rapid rise with the promise of environmentally friendly vehicles and failed sales realizations. Sweden’s battery developer, Northvolt, Stockholm, recently filed for bankruptcy.
Additional developments
6. Apple introduces iPhone 16e R&D
RDW Index member Apple, Cupertino, California, introduced its iPhone 16e last week. This low-cost model of its flagship device is the first Apple device to use its in-house developed cellular chip to enable cellular connectedness. The chips, which Apple labels C1, will replace the communications chips Apple purchased from Qualcomm in San Diego. The new 16e will be available at the end of February for $599, consistent with previous generations of affordable Apple iPhones. This version is a test vehicle, and Apple wants to get field data on how well it works before they release it into the iPhone 17, which is expected to be released in September 2025. Only 20% of the iPhone 17s release will have Apple-produced modems this fall. The rest will have Qualcomm modem chips. Apple expects to wean itself entirely from Qualcomm chips by 2027.
7. Duracell relocates R&D headquarters
Battery maker Duracell, Chicago, announced last week that it is moving its global headquarters for R&D from Bethel, Connecticut, to Atlanta. The new $56 million R&D center is slated to open in summer 2026. The new headquarters will be adjacent to Georgia Tech’s Midtown Atlanta campus at Science Square. This is also about 70 miles northeast of Duracell’s manufacturing facility in LaGrange, Georgia, which has been in operation since 1980
The R&D World Index
R&D World’s R&D Index is a weekly stock market summary of the top international companies involved in R&D. The top 25 industrial R&D spenders in 2020 were selected based on the latest listings from Schonfeld & Associates’ June 2020 R&D Ratios & Budgets. These 25 companies include pharmaceutical (10 companies), automotive (6 companies), and ICT (9 companies), which invested a cumulative total of nearly 260 billion dollars in R&D in 2019, or approximately 10% of all the R&D spending in the world by government, industries, and academia combined, according to R&D World’s 2021 Global R&D Funding Forecast. The stock prices used in the R&D World Index are tabulated from NASDAQ, NYSE, and OTC common stock prices for the companies selected at the close of stock trading business on the Friday preceding the online publication of the R&D World Index
R&D World Index Week Ending February 21, 2025
| Ticker | Exchange | 2020 R&D Billions $ | 02/14/25 | 02/21/25 | 2/14/25 to 2/21/25 | 1/1/22 to 2/21/25 | ||
| 1 | Alphabet/Google | GOOGL | NASDAQ | 27.303 | 186.87 | 181.58 | -2.84% | -25.36% |
| 2 | Microsoft | MSFT | NASDAQ | 17.198 | 408.43 | 408.29 | -0.03% | 21.40% |
| 3 | Volkswagen AG | VWAGY | OTC | 17.259 | 10.84 | 10.50 | -3.14% | -64.04% |
| 4 | Apple | AAPL | NASDAQ | 18.667 | 244.60 | 245.55 | 0.39% | 38.28% |
| 5 | Facebook/Meta | META | NASDAQ | 13.874 | 736.67 | 683.55 | -7.21% | 103.23% |
| 6 | Intel | INTC | NASDAQ | 14.503 | 23.60 | 24.87 | 5.38% | -51.71% |
| 7 | Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | NYSE | 13.750 | 156.15 | 162.30 | 3.94% | -5.13% |
| 8 | Roche Holdings AG | RHHBY | OTC | 14.143 | 41.05 | 41.42 | 0.90% | -19.87% |
| 9 | Merck & Co. | MRK | NYSE | 11.381 | 83.01 | 89.50 | 7.82% | 16.78% |
| 10 | Novartis | NVS | NYSE | 9.387 | 105.43 | 109.35 | 3.72% | 25.01% |
| 11 | Toyota | TM | NYSE | 10.724 | 184.24 | 177.11 | -3.87% | -4.42% |
| 12 | Pfizer | PFE | NYSE | 8.336 | 25.53 | 26.30 | 3.02% | -55.46% |
| 13 | Alibaba | BABA | NYSE | 6.006 | 124.73 | 143.75 | 15.25% | 21.01% |
| 14 | GM | GM | NYSE | 6.727 | 48.37 | 46.29 | -4.30% | -21.05% |
| 15 | Honda | HMC | NYSE | 8.806 | 28.69 | 27.15 | -5.37% | -4.57% |
| 16 | Ford | F | NYSE | 9.340 | 9.48 | 9.28 | -2.11% | -55.32% |
| 17 | AbbVie | ABBV | NYSE | 13.949 | 192.87 | 202.08 | 4.78% | 49.25% |
| 18 | Sanofi SA | SNY | NYSE | 7.750 | 54.50 | 54.46 | -0.07% | 8.70% |
| 19 | Cisco | CSCO | NASDAQ | 6.331 | 64.87 | 63.98 | -2.30% | 0.96% |
| 20 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | NYSE | 7.130 | 53.90 | 55.83 | 3.58% | -10.46% |
| 21 | Astra Zeneca PLC | AZN | NYSE | 6.056 | 73.57 | 74.22 | 0.88% | 27.42% |
| 22 | IBM | IBM | NYSE | 5.368 | 261.28 | 261.48 | 0.08% | 95.63% |
| 23 | Oracle | ORCL | NYSE | 6.928 | 174.16 | 167.81 | -3.65% | 92.42% |
| 24 | Eli Lilly & Co. | LLY | NYSE | 8.606 | 844.27 | 873.68 | 3.48% | 216.30% |
| 25 | Stellantis NV | STLA | NYSE | 5.309 | 14.05 | 13.94 | -0.78% | -28.66% |
| Total | 269.522 | 4151.16 | 4154.27 | 0.07% | 47.33% | |||
| ICT | 2225.21 | 2180.86 | -1.99% | 50.44% | ||||
| Automotive | 295.67 | 284.27 | -3.84% | -16.85% | ||||
| Biopharmaceutical | 1630.28 | 1689.14 | 3.61% | 64.,27% |
