Survey “R&D needs in European publishing” – Results

Innovation is of great importance to book publishers: almost three quarters (77%) of the over 120 respondents to a Europe-wide qualitative survey said they are developing new products and services. However, there are several barriers limiting the ability of publishers to innovate. Access to finance is perceived as the biggest obstacle to innovation (almost half of the respondents indicated that it is as the main barrier), followed by a lack of scale and a lack of infrastructure. Legal issues are viewed as less significant; and a number of respondents pointed to the need for a new mindset that embraces innovation.

These are some of the main results of the qualitative survey, which was conducted among European book publishers by the EU-funded network Technology and Innovation for Smart Publishing (TISP), in cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair. Over 1,000 publishers were contacted; 360 reacted with interest, and 120 publishers from across Europe submitted a detailed response to the questionnaire. The respondents stem from all walks of publishing – educational (36%, multiple answers were possible), academic (33%), STM (12%), trade (both fiction and non-fiction, 65%), children’s books (25%), etc. They include small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (56%) as well as large enterprises (25%) and start-ups (13%). Read the complete article

The results were presented during the EU Stakeholder Workshop on 8 October at the Frankfurt Book Fair (NEM was a partner of the event, which was organized by the Fair & by TISP), you can read a summary of the event here.