Many companies may continue to plow money into their R&D efforts, despite a weak economy, because they believe innovation and new products will help get them out of the slump.

Figuring I'd get a snapshot of how some local tech companies have reacted to the recession with regards to R&D spending, I pulled the 3rd quarter SEC filings of four public companies: Ciena Corp., of Linthicum; MICROS Systems Inc. and Sourcefire Inc., both of Columbia; and TeleCommunication Systems Inc., of Annapolis.

It's interesting to note that three of the four companies saw a relatively modest increase in R&D spending, while only Ciena saw a dip. Ciena swung from a profit to a loss in the quarter, a fact the company attributed to weak markets for their telecom gear since big companies were tightening their spending in the recession.

Some background on the companies (Note: I purposely did not target biotech companies -- their R&D efforts are worthy of another blog post):

* Ciena, which makes equipment and systems that increase the capacity of networks, had revenues of $164.8 million in the 3Q this year, compared with $253.2 million in last year's 3Q. The company lost $26.5 million in this year's 3rd quarter, compared to a profit of $11.7 million in the same quarter last year.

* MICROS makes point-of-sale purchasing software for the restaurant and hospitality industries. Their 3Q 2009 revenue was $212.5 million vs. $244 million in 3Q 2008. Their profit was virtually flat for the quarter: $25 million this year compared to $25.3 million a year ago.

* Sourcefire makes and sells intrusion prevention software and services, helping large networks -- including large government agencies -- maintain their security on the Internet. Their 3Q revenues were $27.4 million, an increase of 35 percent year-over-year, and profit was $2.7 million, compared to a $1.7 million loss in the 3Q of 2008.

* TeleCommunication Systems Inc. makes software and systems for mobile communication networks, and has been busy as the large wireless networks continue to add to their capacity to handle increasing phone, text message and data traffic. Their 3Q 2009 revenue was $71.6 million, compared with $56.5 million in the last quarter. Profit nearly doubled to $5.4 million in 3Q 2009, compared to $2.8 million in last year's 3Q.

Source: Corporate SEC filings, company websites