Newsletter – Issue number 1 March 2024
7 Mar 2024
Blog
The 2021 Innovation Survey has just been released. This report reviews innovation carried out between 2018 and 2020, comparing this to other 3 year periods.
One headline figure is that between 2018 and 2020, 45% of businesses were innovation active, which is a 7% increase on the 38% recorded in 2016 to 2018.
In 2018 to 2020, 58% of large companies (over 250 employees) were innovation active, whereas only 44% of SME’s were.
We have seen increases in nearly all sectors in 2018 to 2020 compared to 2016 to 2018. The only area that has seen a decline is Motion picture and video production.
The below table shows the percentage of businesses in each sector who have been carrying out innovative activity.
2016 – 2018 | 2018 – 2020 | |
Production and Construction Industries | ||
Manufacture of electrical and optical equipment | 63% | 69% |
Manufacture of transport equipment | 58% | 64% |
Fuels, chemicals, plastics, metals or minerals | 47% | 60% |
Food, clothing, wood, paper, publishing and printing | 45% | 56% |
Other manufacturing | 51% | 53% |
Mining or quarrying | 38% | 47% |
Construction | 30% | 42% |
Electricity, gas, water supply | 32% | 41% |
2016 – 2018 | 2018 – 2020 | |
Distribution and services Industries | ||
Financial intermediation | 41% | 50% |
Real Estate, renting and business activities | 44% | 49% |
Wholesale trade (including motor vehicles) | 40% | 43% |
Transport, storage and communication | 33% | 42% |
Retail trade (except motor vehicles/cycles) | 34% | 41% |
Motion picture and video production | 42% | 34% |
Accomodation and Food services | 24% | 32% |
The below table shows the percentage of businesses rating each factor as ‘highly important’ with regards to trends in motivation for businesses engaging in forms of innovation.
2016 – 2018 | 2018 – 2020 | |
Improving quality of goods or services | 43% | 39% |
Issues related to Covid-19 pandemic | 0% | 35% |
Meeting regulatory standards/requirements | 32% | 34% |
Replacing outdated products / services | 37% | 34% |
Increasing value added | 32% | 29% |
Increasing range of goods/services | 30% | 27% |
Increasing market share | 29% | 26% |
Improving production flexibility | 23% | 25% |
Improving health and safety | 22% | 255% |
Improving production capacity | 23% | 24% |
Reducing costs per unit produced | 24% | 23% |
Reducing environmental impact | 20% | 22% |
Entering new markets | 23% | 18% |
It’s always worthwhile considering whether you are within one of the industries mentioned in this report or whether you have actively been involved in amending any processes within your organisation for the above list of motivating reasons. If you have, you may have been undertaking R&D activity.
If you are involved in a business that has been engaging in innovative activity and want to know more about how you can benefit from R&D Tax Creditsplease do not hesitate to get in touch.