For the first time since data collection began in 2008, more companies intend to cut back their innovation activities than to expand them. This is the central result of the DIHK Innovation Report 2026, for which more than 2,300 companies were surveyed with support from the 79 chambers of commerce and industry. The companies cite regulatory and bureaucratic burdens as the main brakes.

The innovation balance, which measures the difference between expanding and reducing innovation activities, drops to minus seven points. This is a 30-point decline from 2023. The situation is especially tense for small and medium-sized companies, where the balance even falls to minus ten points.

Regulation and bureaucracy emerge as the central obstacles. More than four out of five companies report being constrained in their core business by compliance requirements for norms, standards, and certifications. Roughly three-quarters see high bureaucratic demands in the innovation process as a hindrance. Companies rated the conditions for research and development at just 3.5 on a school grading scale, marking a further deterioration compared to the 3.4 rating in 2023. Over the past nine years, this rating has dropped by an entire grade point (2017: 2.6).

© DIHK / Christoph Soeder

"The feedback from companies is clear. Many businesses want to keep Germany's innovation engine running. But ever-increasing bureaucratic requirements, lengthy procedures, and inadequate frameworks are holding them back. This costs competitiveness and future growth. Companies need reliable frameworks and, most importantly, more freedom to generate new ideas and successful innovations," says DIHK Chief Executive Helena Melnikov.

The report also shows that businesses are increasingly focusing their innovation activities on their existing core business. Approximately nine out of ten companies aim to further develop their existing products, services, and business models. New products tailored to future technologies, on the other hand, play a role for only two-thirds. Forward-looking initiatives such as employee training, cooperation projects with other companies, customers, or suppliers, and recruitment of international skilled workers are also noticeably losing significance.

Melnikov continues: "If companies allocate their scarce resources almost exclusively to sustaining their ongoing operations, they will eventually lack the skills, partnerships, and structures necessary for future innovations. This stagnation costs a part of the future every day – for businesses and for our economic location. We therefore urgently need genuine innovation boosters. Companies must once again be able to focus on skill-building and collaborations so that ‘Made in Germany’ remains a success model and export hit."

"It is now up to policymakers to create a reliable and innovation-friendly environment," Melnikov added. "This includes technology-neutral, predictable, and low-bureaucracy research funding, the prompt adoption of the announced IP strategy, and a high-tech agenda for Germany tailored to small and medium-sized enterprises," Melnikov said.

The report is available for download here:

(only available in German).