KOF Innovation Survey 2021: Innovation activities of funded companies continue to increase

The Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF) at ETH Zurich conducts a Swiss Innovation Survey every two years. Innosuisse takes part in the survey to learn more about the innovation behaviour of its own funding clients. The results of the current study from 2021 show that innovation activities at companies supported by Innosuisse have increased in the last two years. Market innovations accounted for a significantly higher proportion of sales in 2020 than for companies that had not applied for funding. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on companies’ innovation behaviour. Digitalisation received a boost. Around half of the funding clients make a potentially big contribution to at least one of the global sustainability goals through their innovations.

As part of the Swiss Innovation Survey, the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich surveys Swiss companies every two years on their innovation behaviour. KOF also conducts in-depth surveys and evaluations of its own funding clients on behalf of Innosuisse.

The 2019 survey focused on comparing innovative companies that received funding from Innosuisse with companies that did not submit an application or did not receive funding.

The current Innovation Survey 2021 focuses on the innovation behaviour of companies. A total of over 3,500 companies that submitted applications for innovation projects and/or innovation cheques to Innosuisse between 2016 and 2020 were surveyed. 1056 companies took part in the survey, which corresponds to a response rate of around 30% of the companies surveyed.. The results do not focus directly on the impact of funding. However, they do provide information about the nature of innovation activities. 

Key findings

Last modification 08.03.2023

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