Corporate innovation has gained momentum again – especially in the field of digital developments

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 05. 21. 11:13

The K&H innovation index increased by two points to 28 points in the first half of 2025. The indicator measuring the innovation activity of domestic companies with sales revenue of over 300 million forints thus remains in the low category, but after the recent decline, the index has corrected back – especially in the field of digital developments and strategic planning, thanks to the innovation activity of small and medium-sized companies.

Digital innovation: at a record high

The digital innovation sub-index showed the greatest shift: its value increased by 7 points to 37 points, which is the highest level so far. This growth clearly reflects that companies are increasingly opening up towards artificial intelligence, IoT and data-driven operations. A fifth of companies are already using artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions, mainly for text writing, translation, data processing and marketing purposes.

The strategic approach has also strengthened (the innovation strategy subindex increased by 4 points), indicating that more and more companies are consciously approaching innovation. 67 percent of companies consider themselves innovators, and 8 percent have a written innovation strategy – the latter proportion has stabilized after the previous decrease.

19 percent of companies plan to develop new products or services in the coming year (planned innovation: +1 point), while the proportion of companies actually introducing innovations has not changed (the implemented innovation subindex remained at 27 points), with one in four companies having created a new product or service in the past two years.

Who is driving innovation?

The greatest progress was made by companies with sales below HUF 2 billion (+4 points for both the smallest and companies between HUF 1-2 billion). The innovation index of the largest companies (over HUF 4 billion) decreased, partly due to the decline in written innovation strategies (13%) and the decrease in planned innovations (14 points).

At the sectoral level, the most significant increases occurred in agriculture (+7 points) and the service sector (+5 points), which represents a return to the levels of a year earlier, while trade and industry stagnated. Regionally, the index increased in Eastern and Western Hungary, but remained unchanged in the central region.