ICT and Innovation Activities: Evidence for UK SMEs

There is a continuous commitment of policy makers in the UK to supporting innovation in small and medium firms. For these policy initiatives to be successful, an understanding of the factors driving innovation activities is required. In this study, we focus on the role that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play in the innovation performance of UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Using data drawn from the 2004 Annual Small Business Survey (ASBS) database, we show that ICT operate primarily as efficiency-enhancing technologies, although specific market oriented applications (i.e. website development) exhibit a potential to create competitive advantage through product innovation.