Innovation Strategies of Non-Research-Intensive SMEs

Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen

Chapter 10 in Change in SMEs, 2008, pp 171-184 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In the public and scientific debate, the prevalent opinion is that mainly high-tech industries are the key to future growth and employment. The statistical basis for this view is the common indicator measuring the ratio of R&D expenditure to turnover of a company or a business sector.1 The OECD classifies industrial sectors as follows: sectors with an R&D intensity of more than 5 per cent are categorized as ‘hightech’; sectors with an R&D intensity of between 3 and 5 per cent are ‘medium-high-tech’; ‘medium-low-tech’ sectors have an R&D intensity of between 3 and 0.9 per cent; and ‘low-tech’ sectors show an R&D intensity of below 0.9 per cent. The latter two are in the following subsumed under ‘low- and medium-technology’ (LMT) or ‘non-research-intensive’. Pharmaceuticals, the electronics industry, motor vehicles, the aerospace industry as well as mechanical engineering are categorized as high-tech or medium high-tech. More mature industries, such as household appliances, foods, paper, print and publishing, wood, metal and plastic products manufacturing, are regarded as low- and medium-technology.

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Community Innovation Survey; Master Craftsman; External Knowledge Source; Corporate Client (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1057/9780230227781_10

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