What has Corona done to innovations in the German economy? According to a study, a lot. According to their own assessment, the pandemic has robbed companies of a lot of courage and strength for new things.
The proportion of companies in Germany that consider themselves innovative is falling. This is the result of a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation presented on Thursday. According to this, only every fifth German company describes itself as particularly innovative. In 2019, i.e. before the corona pandemic, it was still every fourth company. The basis for the evaluation is a representative survey of more than 1000 companies based on their self-assessment. In the period from 2019 to 2022, the proportion of companies that are not actively looking for innovation increased from 27 to 38 percent.
According to the study, innovation performance in the economy as a whole has declined by 15 percent since 2019. For innovation performance, companies were asked to what extent they had implemented product, process, marketing or business model innovations.
Study author speaks of “serious consequences”
“This development will have serious consequences for the position of German companies on the world markets,” said study author Armando García Schmidt from the Bertelsmann Foundation with a view to the downward trend. “Our study clearly shows that companies are more competitive and more resilient to crises the stronger their innovation profile is,” says the expert. According to García Schmidt, innovative companies also make a more dynamic contribution to employment development.
The authors identified seven innovative milieus for the study. At the top are technology leaders, followed by companies without an innovation focus. In between there are companies that, for example, only invest by chance.
Planned innovations were often postponed
According to the study, Corona has exacerbated the imbalance. More than a quarter of companies postponed or canceled innovations planned during the pandemic. The proportion was even larger for companies that were already risk-averse. Here, 42 percent of the companies canceled investments in innovations. In the most innovative milieus, on the other hand, it was only 10 percent.
According to the study, economic success and an increase in the number of employees are closely linked to the innovation profile of the company. The net return on sales for the courageous companies is 27 percent higher than the average. Between 2018 and 2021 there was also twice as much growth in employment at these companies.
Announcements Bertelsmann Foundation Study
Source: Stern
