Innovative ostdeutsche Industriebetriebe schneiden im Vergleich mit anderen gut ab – eine empirische Analyse anhand des IAB-Betriebspanels

In the period of 1999/2000 the proportion of product renewals in the East German manufacturing was above the West German level. The proportion of industries with innovation activities follows the industrial structure. Most product innovations take place in the proportionately largest branches of industry, such as the consumer goods and food industries. However, the high proportion of innovative enterprises in research-intensive industries (chemistry, electrical engineering, car manufacture) is a sign of a structural change. On the basis of the data it is also shown that innovative enterprises positively stand out from non-innovative ones in their performance parameters and, with their investment and employment trends they also rank among the expanding enterprises.