The eagerly anticipated "Innovation Climate Survey" has been released by InnovationTools.com. 

There are a number of startling findings within the survey data:

• Respondents to this survey said that the climate and funding for innovation are holding up fairly well...Over one-fourth of respondents (27%) said that the climate for innovation has improved slightly since the onset of the global recession, while another 20% said it has “improved significantly.”
• Funding for innovation appears to be holding steady, at least at the time the survey was conducted. Over one-third of respondents (37%) reported that there has been “no change” to their organization’s level of funding for innovation. A small percentage of companies said they have actually increased funding for innovation since the economic downturn began.

I use the word "startling" above because, while I had hoped that the survey would show these findings, I was not very optimistic.  Glad I was wrong!  In fact, this report, combined with a recent uptick in the number of new client inquiries and some increased activity on this blog tells me, at least anecdotally, that the focus is again turning to exploring methods to increase growth and improve competitive separation!

MANY THANKS to Chuck Frey at InnovationTools.com for all of the hard work in gathering this data and publishing the report!!!