Tyre innovations yield SRI ‘Top 100 Global Innovator’ recognition

Upon releasing its 2014 Top 100 Global Innovators list on 6 November, Thomson Reuters commented that its top 100 most innovative companies achieved nearly double the 6.85 per cent annual revenue growth rate of S&P 500 firms while increasing their research and development budgets by an average of 17 per cent year-on-year. One familiar tyre industry name on this list of worthies was Sumitomo Rubber Industries; the company views its inclusion on this year’s list as “further evidence of the great acclaim that we have earned for these and other innovative research and development efforts.” This is the second Top 100 appearance for Sumitomo Rubber Industries in the four years the list has been published – Thomson Reuters also chose to include the company in 2011. SRI shares the honour of a tyre maker double-mention with Goodyear, who made the list in 2012 and again last year.

The 2014 Top 100 Global Innovators list was compiled by Thomson Reuters in New York, using objective data and rigorous analysis methods to select the world’s 100 most innovative companies and institutes based on each organisation’s performance over a five-year period in terms of four key evaluation criteria: Overall Patent Volume, the Patent Grant Success Rate of intellectual property-related activities (such as the percentage of successful patent applications), the Global Reach of Patent Portfolio (such as the volume of basic patents granted by the patent offices of China, the EU, Japan and the United States) and Patent Influence (as evidenced by the number of patent citations).

“SRI has been making enormous strides in developing proprietary technologies and products that succeed in combining environmental friendliness with safety and peace of mind, including Enasave 100, the world’s first 100 per cent fossil resource-free tyres, and Enasave Next, which received the highest possible ‘AAA-a’ rating for fuel efficiency and wet grip performance under Japan’s tyre labelling standard,” wrote SRI in response to its appearance on the list. “We believe that our inclusion in this year’s list is further evidence of the great acclaim that we have earned for these and other innovative research and development efforts.

“In order to fulfil our social responsibilities as a global corporate group, the Sumitomo Rubber Group continually aims to create new value while contributing to the development of a sustainable society, striving to be a trusted and respected company that contributes broadly to our communities and to the betterment of society as a whole,” the company added.