Finland Times

 

Implementation or product and process innovations in manufacturing and services by the size category of the enterprise in 2010 to 2012 and 2012 to 2014, share of enterprises. Source: Innovation 2014, Statistics Finland.

Enterprises reported innovations in products and processes more often in 2012 to 2014 than in the years preceding the survey period, according to Statistics Finland's preliminary data.

 

Implementation of innovations grew especially among small service companies compared to the previous survey.

 

Nearly one-half, 48 per cent of the surveyed enterprises reported innovation activities related to products and processes and a majority of them, 45 per cent of all enterprises, also reported they had introduced product or process innovations.

 

The share of enterprises that reported innovation activities increased by a few percentage points from the previous surveys, the statistics show.

 

In 2012 to 2014, altogether 38 per cent of manufacturing enterprises and 32 per cent of service industry enterprises introduced product innovations to the markets. In turn, good one-third of the surveyed manufacturing enterprises and 29 per cent of the surveyed service industry enterprises introduced process innovations.

 

By contrast, the prevalence of organisation and marketing innovations, 38 per cent, remained on level with previous years in terms of the overall picture.

 

As product users, corporate customers are more often visible as participants in the innovation than private consumers.

 

Of all enterprises with innovation activity, around one-fifth, 22 per cent, viewed the importance of development work in cooperation with corporate users of their products as high or moderate. Around one in ten of enterprises with innovation activity, viewed development work with consumers as important.

 

The importance of digitalisation in enterprises' business activities in 2012 to 2014, share of enterprises. Source: Innovation 2014, Statistics Finland.

One-fifth felt that products processed by corporate users were important in their innovation activity and in the production of innovative products.

 

The corresponding result for products modified by consumers was nine per cent. New products developed by consumers played an important role for six per cent of enterprises with innovation activity, and around one in ten felt that new products developed by enterprises played an important role in their development activity.

 

The innovation survey also studied now for the first time the importance of digitalisation in enterprises' business activities and in the light of the preliminary results, digitalisation can be estimated to have a significant effect on enterprises' activities.

 

Close on one-half of services industry enterprises estimated the importance of digital products as high or moderate, and 45 per cent felt, for example, that digitalisation was significant in the marketing of their products.

 

The respective proportions in manufacturing were 22 and 30 per cent.

 

Around one-third of all enterprises estimated that the role of cloud services, the Internet of things and digitalisation in the production of their products, as well as in the distribution of products, is important.

 

These were seen as important in the business activities of service industry enterprises more often than among manufacturing enterprises.

 

By contrast, the utilisation of robotics is naturally more common among manufacturing enterprises than in service industry enterprises.

 

Fourteen per cent of manufacturing enterprises considered digitalisation to be important in design and 22 per cent of service industry enterprises.

 

Good one-fifth of all enterprises felt that the role of social media was high or considerable, the importance being higher for services than manufacturing.