GE released the results of the 2018 Global Innovation Barometer. Entitled "From Chaos to Trust: Emerging Players, Technologies and Challenges," the study explores how business leaders from twenty countries perceive the adversities and opportunities for innovation in an environment complex global.
This year, the Barometer revealed that, despite facing challenges, executives are more confident when it comes to driving growth through innovation, in addition to being better prepared to make it a fundamental business modality. “We know that innovation is a precious resource for generating progress,” says Viveka Katila, President and CEO of GE do Brasil.
A trend already noticed in the previous edition of the study has become reality. Emerging markets gain greater prominence in driving innovation. Countries that traditionally dominated the global innovation leadership, notably the US and Germany, are stagnating and giving ground to Asia. And the current leaders in driving innovation are multinationals and the private sector, while SMEs, entrepreneurs and the government seem to have lost some of their focus on the subject.
New to this year's survey were questions about the impact of protectionist policies on innovation and business. The majority of global executives (55%) believe protectionist policies benefit domestic companies and 73% believe they are good for the workforce. However, 68% globally believe that their government cannot keep pace with the changes. Regarding these points of the survey, the CEO of GE warns. “The biggest cases we have of recent success in the company were born from collaborative projects with our clients or partners”, details Viveka. For the executive, collaboration is key for innovation to be successful.
But this is not the only challenge for innovative companies cited by executives. Among them are: lack of investment for projects, inability to scale innovations to a broader market, need for companies to take risks and lack of adequate talent/skills, cited as the main ones. For leaders, the workforce is the most important element in the success of innovation in most markets, and this challenge has grown steadily.
The study also showed a new trend in the market. The diminishing importance of speed and more emphasis on protecting their business has made executives begin to review their realities. In 2018, the preferred strategy among respondents is to perform all tests on new products before launching them on the market. In addition, they are more willing to wait for the long-term ROI for an innovative breakthrough (84%) and have a clear framework and process for measuring that return (50%).
As an emerging technology, 3D printing was highlighted. Respondents say it will have a positive impact (63%), increase creativity (91%) and bring products to market faster (89%). Executives still believe that many underrated technologies will have a transformative impact, including power grids (74% claim it will bring transformative change for the country), virtual health (68%) and smart cities (71%).
For a complete reading of the Innovation Barometer, click here.
GE's Global Innovation Barometer
Survey conducted with more than two thousand executives from twenty countries involved in the innovation processes and policies of their companies and responsible for decision making regarding innovation, research and development in the company.
The last edition of the survey was carried out in 2016 and showed that the belief in the transformative power of innovation continues, but there is enormous pressure on companies and growing competition in today's market.
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