Innovative firms grow at a faster rate than non-innovators

* A survey by the Office for National Statistics has found that innovative firms grow at a faster rate than non-innovators. Large companies are also three times as likely to be innovators as small and medium ones.

The survey covered more than 2,300 UK firms with more than ten employees and sought to identify the extent and type of innovation carried out in them between 1994 and 1996, including new or improved products, processes or services.

The study found that manufacturing firms are more likely to be innovative than service firms and that, overall, 52 per cent of enterprises surveyed could be classed as innovators.