For its international analysis “The discipline of innovation” , Capgemini interviewed 1,700 employees in 340 organizations. As a result, the number of innovation centers has grown by 27% since October 2016. Although 87% of respondents have an Innovation Center, none of the companies have a consistent success record showing that innovation is followed through from the initial idea to commercial or operational implementation. Only 17% state that they have a company-wide culture of innovation. However, that is just one of the reasons for the sobering results. The lack of interaction with a large supplier or partner community is also a barrier, according to the consultants.

In Germany, the number of company-owned innovation centers has grown in the meantime to 78. More than half of these are incubators that mainly deal with mobility, financial services or media. Berlin, where four innovation centers opened in the first quarter of 2017, remains among the top 10 cities. At the top, hardly surprising, is Silicon Valley, followed by Singapore and London.

If lack of networking is obviously one of the problems at innovation centers, BVIZ may be able to assist. The Federal Association of German Innovation, Technology and Start-up Centers as well as Science and Technology Parks has existed since 1988. One of its goals is to support technology transfer.