Notes:
1) Innovator rate: share of enterprises with product or process innovation as a percentage of all enterprises. Values for 2006 to 2016 are only partially comparable with values from 2018 onwards due to changes in the questionnaire design. No data were collected for the years 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Values from 2019 onwards are only partially comparable with values up to 2018, as the reporting population of the innovation survey increased following a change in definitions in the business register (enterprise size classes are defined based on employees in dependent employment rather than employees subject to social security contributions, which resulted in an increase in the number of enterprises with five or more employees). Values from 2024 onwards are only partially comparable with values up to 2023, as the reporting population of the innovation survey increased due to a further change in definitions in the business register (enterprise size classes now also include persons in secondary employment, which further increased the number of enterprises with five or more employees). All figures are extrapolated to the population of enterprises with five or more employees in Germany.
2) Classification of Economic Activities - 2008 edition (based on NACE 2008 - Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne).

Last update: January 27, 2026

This work is licensed under a Data licence Germany attribution 2.0.
(https://www.govdata.de/dl-de/by-2-0)