Innovation benchmarking for manufacturing SMEs

In the manufacturing as well as in the service sector, SMEs are often characterised by a lower ability to innovate compared to large companies. Thus, it is necessary to encourage SMEs to think more about their innovativeness and make them aware of potential improvements of their innovation behaviour. The provision of an online self-assessment tool is one way to realise a fast, simple and cost-effective possibility of self-evaluation for SMEs. The paper discusses the theoretical and methodological aspects of innovation measurement at the firm level as well as the specific requirements of such a self-assessment tool to meet the needs of SMEs. Furthermore a first implementation of an online self-assessment tool is described including a set of detailed indicators for measuring the innovativeness of SMEs in its various dimensions. Finally, the constraints and limits of the self-assessment method are discussed.