According to a new report, 82% of businesses say the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated innovation. 25% of firms say this acceleration has been drastic. But 31% of businesses have failed to innovate at all over the period.
The data is from the newly published ‘International Innovation Barometer 2022’ from Ayming, an international business performance consultancy specialising in innovation.
585 senior executives and R&D directors were polled for the report, in which Mark Smith, partner of innovation incentives at Ayming UK, said: “The data shows the gap is widening between those who have prioritised innovation and those who haven’t.
“The secretive nature of R&D means businesses don’t know what disruptive forces are emerging in their sector. However, a crisis like Covid-19 will always lead to the emergence of new, forward-thinking propositions. We can already see new start-ups and services emerging, and there is likely plenty more to come.”
Other key findings from the report show that the short-term has become a bigger R&D priority, selected by 34% of respondents compared to 21% last year. To avoid the complexities of dealing with other external parties, companies have kept innovation in-house more - up from 58% to 67%.
25% of firms say they have fully adapted to seize Covid-19 opportunities. The most popular reason for not innovating is that survival took priority, cited by 15%.