Jane Kneebone
Media & Communications
Deloitte Growth Solutions
Mobil: 0416 148 845
Tel: + 61 (0) 3 9208 7389

A survey of over 300 small and medium-sized businesses conducted by Deloitte Growth Solutions has shown that almost 40% of respondents lacked the core skills needed to bring innovation to success.

Innovation remains a priority for growing businesses. However, converting innovative ideas into successful initiatives requires time, skills and programs which are often not available.

The survey was conducted at the Energise Enterprise 08- Victoria’s Small Business Festival which is held throughout August in venues across regional and metropolitan Victoria.

Almost 60% of respondents indicated they have mechanisms in their businesses to capture innovative ideas. However, success at commercialising these ideas remains elusive due to lack of time and skills.

Mr John Downes, Deloitte Growth Solutions Partner, said “the story has not changed. Businesses today are successful at developing innovative ideas however they struggle when it comes to converting these ideas into commercial success stories.

“Medium sized businesses need to improve the ways they identify and track innovative ideas and then inject energy and resources to making innovative ideas commercially viable.

“Australia’s middle market needs to be serious about embracing the plethora of ideas and investing in the resources to develop them,” concluded Mr. Downes.

The key to accessing the resources and skills necessary to succeed with commercialisation is having access to strong and sustainable innovation networks, both internally and externally.

“Deloitte has invested significant financial and human resources to build deep innovation networks throughout our firm. This enables us to find the right people and skills to commercialise ideas rapidly,” says Wes Sonnenreich, Director of Deloitte’s Innovation program. “We also actively participate in external innovation networks with clients and even competitors. The collaboration gives us fresh insights and the relationships to execute those ideas we can’t do on our own.”

When respondents were asked to rate how important they believed the following areas of innovation are, the results were as followed:

• Product Offering-  55% of respondents said this was important
• Better servicing of existing clients  -55% of respondents said this was important
• Process improvement  -55% of respondents said this was important
• Applying creative thinking  -55% of respondents said this was important
• Growth - 55% of respondents said this was important
  

John Downes
Partner
Deloitte Growth Solutions
Tel: + 61 (0) 3 9208 6413