15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Innovation

Destination innovation? Just like any address you plug into your mapping app, many routes can take you there.

15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Innovation

Destination: innovation. Just like any address you plug into your favorite mapping app, many routes can take you there. And you’ll likely find yourself merging on and off multiple roads for the smoothest trip possible.

In other words, the road to innovation is rarely one straight path. And yes, lightbulb moments happen, be it during a creative brainstorming session, from data analysis unveiling a clear opportunity, or even when we’re not trying to be creative—say, in the shower or during a run.

However it strikes, innovation requires the right strategy, investment, leadership, and stomach for risk. Here’s how organizations are faring on all of those fronts.

  1. Eighty-one percent of respondents at digitally mature companies cite innovation as a strength of their organizations, compared with 36% from developing outfits and only 10% from early-stage companies. (Source: MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte)
  2. Top drivers for innovation today include enhancing customer experience (53%), driving revenue growth (53%), and developing new products and services (45%). (Source: Gartner)
  3. More than one-quarter of C-level executives surveyed, said they have a designated innovation leader, such as a chief innovation officer, in place at their organization. 42% say they will create such a role to foster innovation. (Source: EY)
  4. Sixty-five percent of high-growth companies plan to collaborate with customers during the innovation process, compared to 54% of other companies. (Source: Accenture)
  5. Eighty-six percent of respondents from digitally maturing companies say that 10% or more of their time at work involves the opportunity to experiment or innovate. (Source: MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte)
  6. Ninety-one percent of marketers surveyed are leading and supporting innovation initiatives. Sixty-two percent say they are solely responsible for such initiatives. (Source: Gartner)
  7. Sixty-two percent of high-growth companies plan to invest in technologies that lead to higher rates of innovation, compared to 54% of other companies. (Source: Accenture)
  8. Nearly three in four global executives believe a lack of skills is an issue facing their industry. And 64% say this problem is restricting their ability to innovate—a challenge that has increased over time. (Source: GE)
  9. Marketers said their biggest barriers to innovations are risk resistance (46%), inability to measure impact (41%), and talent shortages (41%). (Source: Gartner)
  10. Eighty percent of respondents from digitally mature companies say their organizations cultivate partnerships with other organizations to facilitate digital innovation. Internally, 83% depend on cross-functional teams to advance their innovation efforts. (Source: MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte)
  11. In a survey of more than 2,500 senior innovation leaders, more than 30% expect AI to be among the areas of innovation with the highest impact on their businesses in the next three to five years. And almost 30% are actively targeting AI in their innovation programs. (Source: Business Consulting Group)
  12. Seventy-nine percent of C-suite executives say their organizations are tolerant of failure–often a key element of the innovation process. To further engage employees in innovation, respondents report that their companies provide incentives for innovative accomplishments (44%), support for external workshops or trainings (43%), and offer special innovation-focused events, like hackathons (42%). (Source: EY)
  13. By 2022, as innovation becomes synonymous with disruption, 40% of CIOs will co-lead innovation in their organizations. (Source: IDC)
  14. In a survey of more than 800 U.K. business leaders, two-thirds said innovation was important to their organizations’ success. (Source: PA Consulting)
  15. However, only one-third of the U.K. business leaders said they were innovating successfully enough to generate revenue or measurable growth; only a quarter of boards of directors make innovation a priority, and 40% of leaders reject disruptive ideas because of a fear of failure. (Source: PA Consulting)