据施诺菲尔德联合公司——一家位于伊利诺斯州艾凡斯顿的市场研究公司——所作的一项有关研究开发投资问题的预测:国外的工业研究开发预算增长速度同近几年相比将逐渐减缓,并且开始接近于美国公司的资助水平。这项研究对美国最大的20家公司的研究开发预算所作的分析表明:它们的1991年的研究 According to a prediction made by Schneider-Union, a market research firm based in Aston, Illinois, that R & D investment is expected to grow: Foreign industrial R & D budgets have been growing at a rate similar to that of recent years Will gradually slow down and begin to approach the funding level of U.S. companies. An analysis of the research and development budget of the top 20 U.S. companies shows that their 1991 study