Der vorliegende Bericht stellt die Ergebnisse einer Systemevaluierung der Förderinitiative KMU-innovativ des BMBF dar. Die Evaluierung startete Ende 2008 und damit ein Jahr nach dem Beginn der Förderinitiative im Herbst 2007. Sie hatte zum Ziel, die Implementation, Zielerreichung und Wirkung...

Innovation is crucial to economic development. Innovation expenditures in Germany's business sector as well as public funding for science and research have been increasing in the past decade. However, the share of businesses with innovations - especially among the small- and medium-sized ones -...

There is ample evidence that user-producer interaction is an important factor for successful innovations. It is often claimed that user-producer interaction is most effcient in close proximity. On the other hand, innovations are a major determinant for the export performance of firms. Does this...

The Internet is receiving increasing attention as a medium for technology transfer between public research and the enterprise sector. Based on a survey of public research units in natural sciences and engineering in Germany, we analyse the determinants of firm contacts established via the...

Non-technological innovation is an important element of firms? innovation activities that both supplement and complement technological innovation, i.e. the introduction of new products and new processes. We analyse the spread of nontechnological innovation in firms, their relation to...

This paper investigates the drivers and the effects of the internationalisation of innovation activities in SMEs based on a large data set of German firms covering the period 2002-2007. We look at different stages of the innovation process (R&D, design, production and sales of new products, and...

This paper investigates the impact of in-house R&D and innovation management practices on innovation success in small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). While there is little doubt about the significance of technology competence for generating successful innovations, inhouse R&D activities may be a...