SAP has grown to become the world’s leading provider of e-business software solutions. With 12 million users, 96,400 installations, and more than 1,500 partners, SAP is the world’s largest inter-enterprise software company and the world’s third-largest independent software supplier, overall. SAP solutions help enterprises of all sizes around the world to improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP employs over 49,900 people in more than 50 countries.
SAP Research is the technology research department of SAP and as an integral part of SAP’s R&D activities, SAP Research is responsible for identifying, researching, understanding, developing and evaluating new and emerging technologies, processes and e-business solutions that strategically influence the future of SAP business applications. SAP Research is a Global Business Unit under the direction of SAP AG operating research centres in various countries. These centres are usually colocated with academic partners and focused on specific research topics. Depending on the particular needs of the projects, SAP Research will consider to distribute work packages among its locations in order to engage researchers with the required expertise. This will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the execution of the project.
SAP industry solutions support the unique business processes of more than 25 industry segments, including high tech, retail, manufacturing and financial services. With the focus on applied research, SAP Research bridges the gap between open, collaborative research with external partners and exploitation into new or existing SAP product lines through SAP’s development groups. In the context of this document, SAP refers to SAP AG and its SAP Research Business Unit.
