Innovation & Technology in Light Engineering Firms-2020

The Innovation and Technology Centre (ITC) of the Lahore School of Economics conducted a survey in 2019/2020 to observe the growing trends in innovation and technology upgradation in the light engineering firms situated across 4 different cities in Punjab (Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala and Sialkot). The purpose of this survey was to observe the extent, quality and impact of innovation activities on the performance and profitability of the innovating firms. The survey also looked at the barriers faced by the innovating firms in this sector. The data was collected from 138 firms during the period October 2019 to May 2020.

Looking at the results of innovation, most of surveyed firms revealed that their revenues increased, cost of production decreased, quality of products improves as the result of innovation. Whereas, the prices of their product remained unchanged and a majority of these firms had to retrain their employees and faced resistance from their employees as the result of innovation.

The two greatest barriers faced while trying to perform innovation were lack of financing and lack of innovation opportunities. It can be concluded that more incentives for innovations could be given by providing more sources of funding for the innovating firms in the form of aid from the government and with the assistance of financial institutions.

Link to the Report: https://itc.lahoreschool.edu.pk/downloads/Innovation%20Report%202020%20Final.pdf