Few Greek innovation leaders
While Greece has picked up speed in terms of innovation and strengthening the technology sector, businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, still have a long way to go to boost their performance in this field, which is an obstacle for their further development. The key to innovation is technology through modern data infrastructures, multicloud, cyber security technologies, teleworking etc.
According to a survey by Dell Technologies (Dell Technologies Innovation Index) on a sample of 6,600 employees from more than 45 countries, there is a worldwide gap between the perception of innovation and its implementation by organizations.
In particular, only 8% of companies in Greece – against 18% worldwide – can be defined as “innovation leaders” and “innovators” (innovation adopters). That is, only 8% of Greek businesses have innovation in their DNA and are launching mature innovative plans to strengthen them. This, according to the research, is important, as leaders of innovation and innovators are 2.2 times more likely (in Greece 1.14 times) to improve their business activity even in the midst of a period of economic uncertainty, recession, inflation etc, compared to those who are late (innovation laggards, innovation followers).
In fact, innovation leaders at the global level are 1.9 times more likely to increase their income, while they are 1.7 times more unlikely to face problems in finding qualified staff in the IT industry. It is noted that in order to perceive the maturity of the companies in matters of innovation, the respondents were asked to place themselves based on a scale of maturity of innovation in the companies which starts from the innovation leaders and ends with the laggards.
Overall, however, businesses in Greece are optimistic about their innovative potential: 74% of companies in Greece agree that, internally, a culture of innovation is cultivated, with the corresponding percentage internationally standing at 84%.
On the other hand, 86% of companies worldwide (80% in Greece) are actively looking for technologies to innovate, while almost six out of 10, both globally and in Greece, estimate that their technology is not cutting-edge and that they will be left behind.
