More businesses expect investment in innovation and R&D to increase
Business owners of SMEs are less positive than those of large enterprises
Entrepreneurs in both SMEs and large enterprises expect to invest more in innovation and R&D in 2025. Those expectations are more positive among entrepreneurs of large enterprises (nearly 12 percent) than among those of SMEs (6 percent). Business owners in the construction and culture, sports and recreation sectors are the most positive about future investment in innovation and R&D, whereas those of SMEs in the accommodation and food services sector expect investment to be lower. In the majority of sectors, entrepreneurs of large enterprises are more positive than those of SMEs. This also applies to the transportation and storage sector.| SME (% of businesses that anticipate an increase or a decrease) | Large enterprise (% of businesses that anticipate an increase or a decrease) | |
|---|---|---|
| Total (excl. financial services or utility companies) | 6.0 | 11.8 |
| Construction | 13.2 | 16.1 |
| Culture, sports and recreation | 13.0 | 17.5 |
| Transportation and storage | 10.5 | 25.8 |
| Business services | 9.0 | 5.3 |
| Real estate activities | 6.8 | -10.2 |
| Manufacturing | 6.4 | 17.5 |
| Other services | 2.5 | -2.9 |
| Information and communication | 2.5 | 11.4 |
| Trade | 0.8 | 2.7 |
| Accommodation and food services | -6.9 | 4.1 |
| 1) There are no figures available for businesses in the agriculture, forestry and fishing and mining and quarrying sectors, but these sectors have been included in the total figure. | ||
Nearly 1 in 3 businesses innovate to improve the quality of their products or services
Increasing business productivity is not the main reason for most firms to invest in innovation and R&D. Slightly over 29 percent of SMEs gave improving the quality of products or services as the main reason. Over 37 percent of SMEs in the information and communications sector reported this.
For over 26 percent of large enterprises, responding to changing customer needs or market demand was the most frequently mentioned reason to innovate, while nearly 19 percent of SMEs gave increasing business productivity as the main reason. This was a fraction lower among large enterprises, at around 17 percent. Just over 11 percent of SMEs reported complying with laws and regulations as the main reason for investing in innovation and R&D. Among large companies, this was mentioned less frequently, at over 7 percent. This relatively often involves enterprises in the manufacturing and construction sectors.
| SME (%) | Large enterprise (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Improving the quality of products or services | 29.3 | 25.3 |
| Responding to changing customer needs and/or market demand | 22.4 | 26.5 |
| Increasing business productivity | 18.9 | 17.5 |
| Gaining competitive edge over other businesses | 15.3 | 18.1 |
| Complying with laws and regulations | 11.2 | 7.5 |
| Other reason | 3.0 | 5.1 |