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Innovative Consulting Market Outlook- Germany
Information on the German innovation consulting market is limited, but a few sources suggest that the future of the German innovation consulting market will feature the creation of collaborative workspaces, the increased focus on megatrends such as digitalization and sustainability, and the emergence of new innovation programs that empower employees further. Small and medium enterprises will present opportunities for growth.
Creation of Collaborative Workspaces
- It is likely that more innovative consultancies will create collaborative workspaces, as stakeholders in Germany believe these collaborative workspaces are necessary if German companies wish to remain among the world's top companies.
- A new collaborative workspace, wavespace Berlin, was recently launched by etventure, a top innovation consulting firm that is based in Berlin and is a subsidiary of EY. etventure has a market-tested innovation process that is composed of the following steps: identifying the pain points of customers, suppliers, and partners, rapidly testing concepts and identifying the best approach, developing minimum viable products and conducting live tests, and quickly rolling out to market.
- Launched in November 2018, wavespace Berlin provides the environment and infrastructure that startups and established companies need for innovation work. Its amenities include project offices, co-working spaces, a data laboratory, and a prototyping laboratory. The collaborative workspace has a floor area of 1,500 square meters.
- According to Philipp Herrmann, managing director and founder of etventure, numerous companies want to find inspiration outside their business, and work in close collaboration with startups.
Opportunities Presented by SMEs
- Statistics indicate that SMEs present an opportunity for the German innovation consulting market to grow further.
- According to Urban, an innovation consulting firm based in Dosseldorf, Germany, SMEs take 110,000 innovations to market, but only 5% of these innovations become successful in the long term.
- ZENIT GmbH, another innovation consulting firm headquartered in Germany, also highlights the importance of SMEs. In one of its posts, it talked about how the European Union is supporting SMEs that have promising market-driven innovation projects.
Focus on Megatrends
- There will likely be an increased focus on megatrends such as digitalization and sustainability, as experts believe it is wise for organizations to deal with these megatrends as soon as possible.
- Megatrends, particularly digitalization and sustainability, were discussed at the most recent DIALOG Innovation that was hosted by WFG, another firm in Germany providing innovation consulting services.
- It was noted at said event that megatrends should be addressed in collaboration, not in competition, with other companies. Novel and innovative business models may emerge as companies deal with these megatrends.
Emergence of New Innovation Programs
- It can be expected that new innovation programs will emerge in the near future, and that innovation consulting firms in Germany will draw inspiration from these programs.
- Itonics, a Germany-based innovation consulting firm, notes that one of the emerging topics at the latest Innovation Roundtable Summit was kickboxing, an employee innovation program where employees get to be the CEOs of their own innovative ideas. In said program, resources and time for experiments are provided by the employer.
- More than a thousand companies have already signed up to be a partner of Adobe, the company that has developed the program.
Research Strategy
Given that both IDEO and Innosight were provided as examples of players in the market, and both IDEO and Innosight are innovation consulting firms, we assumed that the exact market of interest is the German market for innovation consulting. It appears from the examples that were provided that innovation consulting firms are consulting firms that specialize in helping organizations achieve their innovation-related goals.
To determine if the desired information is readily available in the public domain, we first checked if there are articles or reports that directly cover the future or outlook of the innovation consulting market in Germany. There may be relevant sources that were published in German, so we researched both English-language and German-language sources. We quickly discovered, however, that the topic of innovation consulting is rarely covered by news or media outlets. We only came across lists of top innovation consulting firms, such as those published by the Board of Innovation, Teqsense, RocketSpace, and Forrester, and the websites of innovation consulting firms. Unfortunately, the firms in these lists are mostly based in the United States. We were unable to find any list specific to Germany.
Since the desired information is not pre-compiled, we changed tactics and looked for the top innovation consulting firms in Germany to check if these firms have anything to say about the future or outlook of the innovation consulting market. We checked as well the direction these top firms are taking. Rocketspace identifies etventure as a Berlin-based top innovation consulting firm, so we began with said company. We examined the websites and press coverage of Urban, FLYACTS, Tom Spike, RSW, Itonics, ZENIT, trendINNOVATION, and NOW! as well because they are Germany-based consulting firms that concentrate on innovation consulting. Innovation consulting is featured front and center on these firms' homepages. We understand too that large consulting firms such as EY, Deloitte, and Accenture with dedication innovation consulting practices are not of interest. With this strategy, we were able to gather a few insights about the German innovation consulting market.
To find additional information, we checked if there are related conferences, summits, or roundtables that were recently conducted in Germany. The topics covered at these types of events typically indicate what the future brings for an industry, so we thought this strategy might lead us to some relevant insights. True enough, this strategy led us to DIALOG Innovation, the BMWi, and the Innovation Roundtable Summit 2019, which are all events attended by innovation consultants or consulting firms. From the recaps of these events, we were able to gain a better understanding of the market.