International survey on innovation culture

The tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­ny Con­ti­nen­tal has pub­lished a new rep­re­sen­ta­tive, four-coun­try sur­vey high­light­ing the extent to which employ­ees in Ger­many, Chi­na, Japan and the U.S.A. rec­og­nize the impor­tance of inno­va­tions. When it comes to inno­va­tion cul­ture, how­ev­er, the study reveals a num­ber of short­com­ings. In this coun­try, for exam­ple, the work­ing envi­ron­ment in many com­pa­nies is not con­sid­ered to be con­ducive to inno­va­tion. Although Ger­man employ­ees are inter­est­ed in new tech­nolo­gies and see inno­va­tion as a task for all employ­ees, few com­pa­nies have so far imple­ment­ed spe­cif­ic mea­sures to pro­mote inno­va­tion. Only 30% of Ger­man respon­dents feel that their work­ing envi­ron­ment pro­motes inno­va­tion; in Japan, this fig­ure is as low as 21%. By inter­na­tion­al stan­dards, the US (45%) and Chi­na (54%) are the clear lead­ers when it comes to inno­va­tion culture.
On behalf of Con­ti­nen­tal, the mar­ket and opin­ion research insti­tute YouGov sur­veyed 4,500 employ­ees over 18 years of age in Ger­many, the U.S.A., Chi­na and Japan. The study was car­ried out online in July 2018. The results are rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the group of employees.
In con­trast to many Ger­man orga­ni­za­tions, the tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­ny rec­og­nized ear­ly on that inno­va­tion is a key suc­cess fac­tor in the dig­i­tal­ized world of work – and that it is our own employ­ees who are dri­ving pre­cise­ly these inno­va­tions. “To secure the company’s long-term suc­cess, com­pa­nies need to cre­ate a cul­ture in which employ­ees are will­ing to not only embrace change but also active­ly pro­mote it,” said Dr. Ari­ane Rein­hart, Exec­u­tive Board Mem­ber for Human Rela­tions at Continental.
In doing so, the tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­ny focus­es on four cen­tral themes: agile, team-ori­ent­ed lead­er­ship based on the four cor­po­rate val­ues; diver­si­ty; flex­i­ble work­ing mod­els, includ­ing for our pro­duc­tion employ­ees; and fresh inspi­ra­tion through our very own start­up pro­gram. These approach­es allow the com­pa­ny to cul­ti­vate not only an entre­pre­neur­ial mind­set among employ­ees but also agile meth­ods and ways of work­ing as well as to cre­ate the basic con­di­tions for bring­ing the inno­v­a­tive ideas of our teams to the market.
The results of the Con­ti­nen­tal sur­vey show that the employ­ees sur­veyed rec­og­nize the impor­tance of inno­va­tion. But it is equal­ly clear that inno­va­tion cul­ture is still in its infan­cy in many com­pa­nies. Ger­many, the U.S.A. and Japan still have some catch­ing up to do here.

Low interest in technology in Germany – China leads the way

A third of Ger­mans (32%) are inter­est­ed in new tech­nolo­gies such as col­lab­o­ra­tion tools, busi­ness apps and arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence in the com­pa­ny. The inter­est here in Ger­many is rough­ly the same as in the U.S.A. (30%) and Japan (28%). Lead­ing the way, how­ev­er, is Chi­na, where almost two thirds of respon­dents (63%) – twice as many as in the oth­er three coun­tries – are pas­sion­ate about state-of-the-art tech­nol­o­gy. This reflects Chi­na’s ambi­tions to become inter­na­tion­al­ly com­pet­i­tive through advanced tech­nolo­gies and a fresh inno­va­tion drive.

Promoting innovation – a lack of measures in Germany

Although many employ­ees are aware of the impor­tance of inno­va­tion in the work­place, not enough spe­cif­ic mea­sures designed to fos­ter inno­va­tion have been imple­ment­ed in the day-to-day work rou­tine. Employ­ees lack not only an envi­ron­ment in which they can work cre­ative­ly and try out new things, but also the finan­cial and tech­ni­cal resources need­ed to put their ideas and projects into prac­tice. Only 30% of Ger­man respon­dents state that their com­pa­ny has cre­at­ed a work­ing envi­ron­ment that is con­ducive to inno­va­tion; in Japan, this fig­ure is just 21%. By con­trast, more than 50% of Chi­nese employ­ees and 45% of Amer­i­can employ­ees state that their com­pa­ny offers an inno­va­tion-friend­ly climate.