Start-Ups Is the Start-Up Hype Over? Industrial Investment Stagnates, New Figures Show

Only one in ten industrial enterprises invest in in a young technology company, recent figures show. But what's even worse: In almost 40 percent of the companies, the willingness to take risks is low or virtually nonexistent.

The biggest challenge currently facing industry managers is the need to differentiate themselves. Nevertheless, the number of networks with innovative startup companies did not increase compared to 2015. In 2016, as in the previous year, eleven percent of industrial companies in Germany invested in young technology companies.

Instead, the number of networks with customers promoting innovation grew vis-à-vis the prior year. These are the results of the study “Industry Innovation Index 2016” conducted by the Forsa institute. In the study, commissioned by the special chemicals group Altana, 500 managers and entry-level professionals were surveyed.

“Established Industrial Companies Can Learn a Lot From Startups”

An important prerequisite for investing in startups is a willingness to take risks. But according to the study, business courage is less widespread in German companies than other innovation-promoting measures. Only 9 percent of the managers consider this aspect to be very strong in their company, while 38 percent considered it to be weak or not pronounced at all.

Unconventional thinking and action, and targeted use of external knowledge, were the measures implemented for an innovation culture that finished in second-to-last and third-to-last place, respectively. This is another indication that cooperation between established industrial companies and innovative startups needs to be reconsidered.

Number of Participations in Startups Stagnating

“The challenge is to continually reinvent yourself in order to remain innovative. In this regard, established industrial companies can learn a lot from startups. The prerequisite is a corporate culture that is open to the new and to different opinions,” says Martin Babilas, the CEO of Altana, summing up.

This article was published first on www.process-worldwide.com.

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