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RESEARCH ISSUE IN FOCUS

Digital innovation and entrepreneurship

Increasingly, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are investing in digital technologies to respond to the rapid changes that are now affecting almost all sectors of life and work. Many SMEs take this step either to realign their business model, to make their processes more efficient or simply because they are forced to do so by structural change and altering customer needs. But what concrete activities and strategies do SMEs pursue in terms of digital innovation? What are the different approaches? What exactly do successful digitisation projects look like in medium-sized companies? In our dossier we get to the bottom of these and other questions.

DIGITAL INNOVATION – BUT HOW? INTERVIEWS WITH SMEs

Christian Schieder: BHS Corrugated

Industrial Internet of Things

Christian Horneber: NWZ Mediengruppe

Integration of an online ad platform

Markus Stoll: Stoll Gruppe

Digital platform for better collaboration

SUCCESSFUL DIGITISATION PROJECTS: LEARNINGS

„Der Mittelstand wird dafür kritisiert, dass er die Digitalisierung verschlafen hätte. Dabei wird leicht übersehen, dass der Mittelstand gerne im Verborgenen innoviert.“

„Es liegt keineswegs auf der Hand, dass Großunternehmen die Digitalisierung erfolgreicher bewältigen als mittelständische Unternehmen.“

„Digitalisierung bedeutet Wandel. Das setzt Veränderungsfähigkeit und -bereitschaft voraus.“

„Je agiler und innovativer die Projekte sind, desto weniger kommen Standardlösungen infrage.“

„Gerade weil die Welt der kleinen und mittelgroßen Unternehmen so vielfältig ist, bedarf es individueller Lösungen für individuelle Herausforderungen.“

„Digitalisierungsvorhaben kosten Zeit und Geld und dauern meistens länger als geplant.“

DIGITAL INNOVATION IN SMEs

Blog articles on this issue

Green Tech seems promising

Net-zero growth driven by green tech – A story for all?  

The grand vision that green tech will contribute to net-zero emissions and sustainable economic growth is certainly appealing, but is it really a story for all?

Shaping AI in the interests of employees

Shaping AI in the interests of employees

AI offers opportunities and risks for employees. But what can managers and works councils do to enable potential positive effects and avoid negative effects?

The German AI startup landscape: trends and challenges

“We are gambling with our future in Germany. We definitely need more AI firms that develop solutions for our existing industry structure. Currently, we are missing that trend.” says Fabian…

Broaden our horizons: Digitalisation in the SME sector

Since 2016, the HIIG has been actively supporting German small and medium-sized enterprises within the context of a BMWi-funded project to better assess and master the opportunities and challenges of…

How much magic is behind German AI production?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to change the way value is created and captured across all industries. For Germany, to fully tap into this potential, it is essential to…

Digital innovation: Integration of an online ad platform

In the fifth part of the blog article series, we present a traditional media company headquartered in Oldenburg, Germany, which was able to expand its existing product portfolio with a…

Digital Innovation: Creating customer value through an Industrial Internet of Things platform

In the fourth part of the blog series we present how a market leading German manufacturer of corrugators has increased productivity for customers through an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)…

Digital Innovation: A digital platform enables better collaboration across project teams

In the third part of this blog article series we show how an internal wiki has supported the cooperation of interdisciplinary project teams of the Stoll Group and what valuable…

Digital Innovation: Smart glasses for better customer service

In the second part of our blog article series, we introduce how a leading international manufacturer of intralogistics systems has significantly improved its customer service results through the use of…

Digital Innovation: Intelligent waste disposal through a smartphone app

Digitalisation brings new opportunities and growth potential, especially for the German Mittelstand. What kind of activities and strategies are pursued when it comes to digital innovation by mid-sized companies? What…

Will blockchain disrupt your business? - Generic Image

Will blockchain disrupt your business?

Blockchain has been praised to be “the technology most likely to change the next decade of business”. The disruptive power of the blockchain technology is still limited, says HIIG-researcher Jessica…

Collaboration between startups and mid-sized companies. Learn. Match. Partner. - Generic Image

Collaboration between startups and mid-sized companies. Learn. Match. Partner.

When startups and mid-sized companies meet, two worlds collide. Startups are the main driver of digitization but inexperienced, while mid-sized companies do have experience but lack digitization expertise. Collaboration between…

Open Innovation as a chance for new incubation and collaboration models - Generic Image

Open Innovation as a chance for new incubation and collaboration models

Open Innovation has created new opportunities for business model innovation, which go far beyond the incubation of startups. Yet, why do large corporations actually need to open up? Which opportunities…

Selected Publications

Digitale Innovation im Mittelstand – Fallbeispiele erfolgreicher Digitalisierungsprojekte

Die Digitalisierung eröffnet insbesondere für den deutschen Mittelstand neue Chancen und Wachstumspotenziale. Doch welche genauen Aktivitäten und Strategien werden in puncto digitale Innovationen von Mittelständlern verfolgt? Welche unterschiedlichen Herangehensweisen gibt es und wie sehen konkrete Erfolgsbeispiele aus?

Kooperationen zwischen Startups und Mittelstand: Learn. Match. Partner.

Die Zusammenarbeit von Startups und Mittelständlern verspricht Vorteile für beide Seiten und kann darüber hinaus zur Sicherung der Innovationskraft in Deutschland beitragen. Wie künftig mehr Kooperationen entstehen können, hat eine interdisziplinäre Studie des Alexander von Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft (HIIG) qualitativ untersucht.

Book cover

Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership – Preparing for a Digital Future

Dieses Buch nimmt Entrepreneurship, Start-ups, Innovation und Zusammenarbeit in den Fokus. Es versucht die dringende Frage zu beantworten, wie Länder und Unternehmen in einem sich ständig verändernden digitalen Umfeld wettbewerbsfähig bleiben können. Die AutorInnen bestimmen, welche unternehmerischen Prozesse für wen und unter welchen Umständen funktionieren.

Book cover
Book cover

Digitale Plattformen als Innovationstreiber

Von A wie AirBnB bis Z wie Zalando – digitale Plattformen sind aus dem Alltag vieler Menschen nur noch schwer wegzudenken. Philip Meier beschreibt, warum digitale Plattformen so erfolgreich sind und wie diese spezielle Geschäftsmodellart funktioniert. Besonders in Zeiten schnellen technologischen Wandels und wachsenden Innovationsdrucks schafft dies einen wertvollen Nährboden für den eigenen Innovationsprozess.

Book cover

HIIG Podcast on AI and startups

Podcast

Meet the HIIGSTERS: Our researchers introduce themselves

Jessica Schmeiß

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Martin Wrobel

Collaboration of SMEs and startups

Philip Meier

The SME sector is digitising itself