One on One with Booz & Company's John Loehr

Every year since 2005, Booz & Company has conducted the Global Innovation 1000 study, which investigates the relationship between what companies spend on R&D and their overall financial performance—and every year, the firm reinforces the conclusion that there is no correlation between the two. Over the years, Booz & Company has expanded the scope of the study to include critical issues such as the importance of customer-driven innovation and the recession's effect on R&D spending. At the Consulting Summit in New York on Oct. 24, John Loehr, Global Leader of Booz & Company's Innovation Practice and co-author of the innovation study, will present the just released and proprietary findings of the study in his presentation: "Inside the Numbers: The 2013 Booz & Company Global Innovation 1000 Study." Loehr sat down with Consulting One on One to discuss his upcoming presentation.

Consulting: What are the key historical trends you've uncovered since launching the study nine years ago?

Loehr: One thing we've noticed, for sure, is that it is clear that innovation was protected during the downturn. Innovation spend has been growing faster than GDP spend. A lot of people had feared that during the recession, it would be one of the first things to go, and I'm happy to report that that's not true at all. That's one of the main findings as far as trend lines go. There's no question that the world as whole recognizes the pre-eminent role of innovation in terms of driving global prosperity and corporate profitability.