Innovative is different. The judgement of the "Expert Commission for Research and Innovation" (EFI) is rather harsh for small and medium-sized companies in Germany.
According to the EFI, few digital concepts are being used. This is due to the lack of framework conditions for new business models. In addition, the digital agenda is focussed on industrial processes, if at all.
The high innovation costs, the high economic risk, the lack of skilled labour and internal funding sources are cited as reasons for this reluctance. The lack of funding for research and development is also criticised.
According to the EFI's assessment, Germany is in the middle of the field compared to the rest of Europe. France, Sweden and Finland are further ahead.
It is often older medium-sized Companies that are not only falling behind in the current wave of digitalisation, but have often also missed out on previous steps. For example, it seems natural that medium-sized companies of a certain size use ERP software such as SAP Business One.
However, it is assumed that this is not the case for a third of all SMEs.
So there is still a lot to do ...
More on this topic in the article "Are German SMEs missing out on digitalisation?“.
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