Media tipsPublished on 26 March 2025

Innovation Survey 2023: Innosuisse enhances the innovative strength of companies

The Swiss Economic Institute (KOF) conducts a nationwide innovation survey every two years. The results of the current survey from 2023 show that the innovation environment for Swiss companies is becoming increasingly complex and that innovation momentum is stagnating or declining. Companies that apply for Innosuisse funding are more innovative than comparable innovative companies that have not submitted an application to Innosuisse. Digitisation is increasingly a driver for innovation activities and artificial intelligence is of growing importance.

The KOF conducts a Switzerland-wide innovation survey every two years. Innosuisse has taken part in this survey since 2019 in order to learn more about the innovation behaviour and innovation environment of the companies it funds. The aim is to be able to draw selected comparisons with innovative companies that have not submitted a funding application to Innosuisse. The current survey results refer to 2021 and 2022 and also allow comparison with earlier periods.

• Investigation into Innosuisse’s innovation promotion between 2019 and 2023

  This scientific study analyses the development and impact of Innosuisse’s innovation promotion between 2019 and 2023.

  PDF3.85 MB18 November 2024

A total of 6,500 companies that submitted applications for innovation projects and/or innovation cheques to Innosuisse between 2016 and 2020 were surveyed. Around 1,370 companies took part in the survey, which equates to a response rate of 21%. The results provide valuable insights into the nature of innovation activities and how they are changing as well as interesting perspectives on the innovation environment.

The following key findings can be highlighted:

• 1. Innovation indicators point to innovation activities stagnating or in some cases declining

  The results of KOF’s nationwide innovation survey show a that R&D expenditure is increasing slightly overall, but that the proportion of all companies active in R&D declined slightly in the last survey period. The share of companies with product innovations has also decreased. In the high-tech sector, R&D expenditure is stagnating and the share of sales generated by products that are new to the market (radical innovations) is decreasing. This points to a declining competitive advantage.

  A similar pattern is to be observed among Innosuisse companies. R&D expenditure is increasing slightly. This also applies to the share of sales accounted for by products that are new to the company (incremental innovations). In contrast, the share of sales generated by radical innovations is declining. However, the innovation indicators recorded are significantly higher for companies funded by Innosuisse than for comparable high-tech companies that have not applied to Innosuisse.

• 2. Market innovations account for a significantly higher proportion of sales for funded companies than for innovative companies that have not applied for funding.

  On average, the share of sales from product innovations is 31% for innovative companies with R&D activities that have not applied for funding, of which 4% are market innovations (radical innovations) and 27% are company innovations (incremental innovations). These proportions are significantly higher among companies with approved
  Innosuisse project funding: the share of sales from product innovations is around 46%, of which 13% is from market innovations and 31% is from company innovations. The decline for market innovations from 22% in 2021 to 13% is worth noting, as it points to a decline in radical innovations at funded companies.

• 3. Innosuisse promotes both incremental and radical innovations to a similar extent

  Incremental innovations include the further development or optimisation of existing products, services, processes or business models. Radical innovations, on the other hand, aim to make fundamental improvements and changes through revolutionary or radically new ideas and technologies. In 2023, 27% of Innosuisse applicants rated their innovations as «(very) incremental», while 33% rated them as «(very) radical». The share of radical innovations fell slightly between 2021 and 2023, while incremental innovations increased slightly.

• 4. Around two-thirds of companies reported a high or very high level of benefit from the innovation promotion

  In 2023, 65% of applicants rated the benefit from innovation promotion as being high (45%) or very high (20%). In 2021, the proportion of companies reporting a high or very high level of benefit was slightly greater, at 77%. This declining trend has been observed since 2019. It might indicate a change in the innovation landscape or a change in the needs of applicants between 2019 and 2023.

• 5. A higher degree of novelty, greater complexity and the desire for knowledge and technology transfer are what make Innosuisse projects different from other innovation projects by companies

  Around two-thirds of Innosuisse applicants are pursuing other innovation projects in addition to their Innosuisse projects. Innosuisse funding is very much aimed at knowledge and technology transfer. Compared to other innovation projects, projects submitted to Innosuisse show a higher degree of novelty and are more complex. Factors such as a lack of in-house expertise, risks in market implementation and technological challenges lead companies to apply to Innosuisse for support with their projects.

  The study also shows that the technological potential of Innosuisse applicants is significantly higher than for other companies that spend on R&D: 63% rate their technological potential as high or very high. This potential includes both technical and scientific knowledge and underlines how important collaborating with research partners is for marketable innovations.

• 6. The innovation environment is becoming more complex for companies

  The need to integrate increasingly varied technologies and different sources of knowledge, closer collaboration with different partners and greater incorporation of the customer’s perspective, along with ever shorter innovation cycles, make the innovation environment for companies more complex.

• 7. Digitisation as a driver of innovation activities and the growing importance of artificial intelligence technologies

  Digital technologies and business models are important or very important for around 80% of companies when it comes to their innovation activities. The biggest challenge is the lack of qualified specialists, as well as the development and market realisation of profitable business models. The use of systems based on artificial intelligence at Innosuisse companies increased from 22% in 2019 to 33% in 2023. For other companies that spend on R&D, the share is significantly lower (2019: 8 %; 2023: 13 %).

• 8. Exclusion from the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme has had a negative impact on innovation activities

  A share of 11% of Innosuisse companies submitted an application to the European research and innovation programme Horizon 2020. A total of 47% of Innosuisse applicants indicated that Switzerland’s exclusion from Horizon Europe will have a (very) negative impact on their innovation activities.