Publication
The Innovation State of the Nation 2025: Survey Report
Published: 22 December 2025
ERC_IRC Report
Associated Themes
-
Innovation
In 2025, 60% of UK businesses reported making product or service changes in the past year. Compared to the previous ISNS results, this marks an increase from 56%, bringing the proportion close to the 2023 level. Notably, innovation rates rose most significantly among micro and small businesses, with increases of approximately 5% and 4%, respectively. A similar upward trend was observed among frontier firms, which experienced an 8% rise in innovation activity. In contrast, innovation levels among non-frontier firms remained relatively steady. Meanwhile, there was only a 1% increase in innovation activity in large firms.
In relation to innovation novelty, there was an approximately 8% increase in the proportion of firms that reported some of their innovations were new-to-the-market, and a 3% increase in the proportion of firms that reported wholly new-to-the-firm innovations.
In line with trends in product and service innovation, there has also been a rise in the proportion of firms adopting process innovations. In 2025, 46% of firms reported engaging in process innovation, up from 41% in 2024, returning to the level seen in 2023. Notably, the increase was more pronounced among smaller firms and non-frontier firms.
There was also increased activity in business model innovation, such as business practices, work organisation, the organisation of external relationships, and marketing concepts in 2025.
Downloads
