Innovation is crucial to prosperity, and to solving the urgent societal problems of our time. However, Germany needs more innovative capacity if it wants to continue to keep pace with other countries and regions across the globe – particularly with regard to cutting-edge technologies. A Bertelsmann Stiftung study examining good practices worldwide shows how fostering innovative capacity to increase competitiveness while advancing societal progress can unlock innovative potential.

Innovation can help us overcome the grand challenges we face as societies – if our institutional arrangements and framework conditions are attuned to achieving this goal. Our good practice research highlights strategies, policies and tools from around the world that stand out in this regard.

A large majority of EU citizens expect innovation and technological progress to have a positive impact on their lives over the next 15 years. With the coronavirus crisis, the desire for more innovation has grown appreciably, particularly with regard to the healthcare and long-term care sectors, the fight against climate change, and education. At the same time, Europeans are keenly aware of the competition they face in key technologies coming from the United States and China. European citizens thus support greater cooperation within Europe.

Sweden once again won the title of European innovation leader last year, a feat the country owes not least to its state innovation authority Vinnova: “We help increase Sweden’s innovative capacity and sustainable growth. We strive to turn Sweden into a driving force in a sustainable world.” Author: Benjamin Dierks

Brigitte Mohn, Member of the Executive Board, Bertelsmann Stiftung

The Corona pandemic is hitting the German economy hard. In many crisis-ridden sectors, there is a threat of market power being concentrated in a few companies. And this will have consequences for Germany as a location for innovation.

In a December 2019 innovation exchange between Germany and Israel, Israeli startups met with German Mittelstand firms. A key insight: Personal contact is the key to success.

The international balance of power in innovation is shifting. When it comes to world-class patents in important cutting-edge technologies, the United States still occupies the leading position in almost every field. But China is catching up fast or has already overtaken the United States in some areas thanks to its much greater dynamic. This is the central finding of our new study on the development of national and regional portfolios of patents in cutting-edge technologies since 2000.

Our Executive Board is postponing the award ceremony for this
year’s Reinhard Mohn Prize, planned for September 3, 2020, until 2021. The decision was made in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.