Outstanding global innovations such as the gasoline engine, aspirin and the mp3 format originated in Germany. In order to ensure Germany's international competitiveness, it is necessary to sustainably exploit and increase the innovation potential of the German economy. Germany's innovative strength, particularly in the industrial sector, is largely driven by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are often able to compete successfully on the global market even without significant investment in research and development or without their own R&D department. On the one hand, established regional supplier and industrial structures play a role in this, but on the other hand there are also conducive institutional and local framework conditions.
Nevertheless, there is growing pressure on all companies to improve their position in global competition and to continuously reposition themselves. In order to maintain and expand their innovative strength, both small and large companies are confronted with the need to open up more to the outside world in order to receive new and relevant innovation impulses (in the sense of open innovation), while at the same time providing the skills and resources necessary for the realisation of innovations.