Abstract
Digitization is probably one of the greatest opportunities in recent years and, at the same time, one of the greatest challenges of our time. The aim of this article is to find possible answers to the question of which factors are considered as barriers to innovation for SMEs and which are suitable for promoting innovations in the field of digitization. For this purpose, a survey conducted by the IHK Region Stuttgart among its member companies in 2018 is evaluated. The barriers identified can be divided into four categories: 1. Innovation management in the company/lack of knowledge of the market, 2. Funding bottlenecks beyond research and development (R&D), 3. Labor market restrictions (education/training of skilled workers) and 4. Bureaucracy and legal regulations/regulation. Overall, as the analysis shows, there are both internal and external barriers to innovation. The companies cite regulatory and bureaucratic barriers as the most important obstacles to innovation. The regression analysis shows, among other things, that companies that state the regulatory framework as problematic have a greater likelihood of developing a strategy than others as well as employing a digitization officer.