The new digital era – driven by exponential technologies, data and platforms – presents diverse challenges and changes for organizations.

We are pleased to introduce you to our first Deloitte Greece Innovation Survey which aims to tackle these issues with empirical investigation and trend analysis to provide fresh, new perspectives on the innovation landscape of Greece.

Our first Deloitte Greece Innovation Survey focuses on how companies in Greece define and implement innovation, what types of technologies and processes involve in their innovation activity and which are the correlations of innovation activity with the external or internal corporate environment. The survey also provides a view on the drivers of innovation and the obstacles that Greek companies need to overcome.

About the research

Deloitte invited leaders from major Greek companies to participate in an online survey. Thirty five top management executives responsible for innovation from large private companies drawn from all business and industrial sectors participated in the survey. This information, which was collected in October 2018, has been analysed in aggregate and forms the basis of this publication.

The survey analyses innovation in Greek companies from three perspectives:

• the business perspective on new digital technologies and processes
• role of the available types of innovation and methods
• influences and barriers to innovation and the implementation of digital technologies and processes.

Key findings
 

• >40% of companies concentrate their innovation efforts on product performance, increasing value through complementary services enhancing the services they provide, and fostering compelling customer interactions.
• 80% of respondents stated that their company will increase innovation investments over the next 2 years 
• Lack of technical skills and time for developing new ideas, as well as cultural resistance to change are identified as the main obstacles blocking innovation in Greek companies.
• Simply increasing innovation budgets will not be sufficient to become innovative in the new digital era. Innovation should not be only about experimenting with new technologies or focusing on product features and performance. Innovation must be embedded into the DNA of organizations. 
• Cloud computing, data analytics, digital networks, Robotic Process Automation and IoT sensors have attracted most investments in the last 2 years.
• By the end of 2020, the investment focus will shift to emerging technologies, such as blockchain and cognitive computing & artificial intelligence (AI). Wearables are identified as relevant for innovation by most respondents but are forecasted to attract limited investment.