Facilitating foreseeing and innovation in SMEs

SMEs operate in business environments that not only change rapidly but also unexpectedly. The need to improve foresight and strengthen the dialogue between foresight, planning, and innovation processes in SMEs is noted. This paper examines what enhances and what hinders the absorption of foresight knowledge in the innovation processes in SMEs. Based on the empirical data gathered by participative observation in 3 workshops and 8 expert interviews, the lack of weak signals or foresight tools are not disincentives. Instead, inherent human features of SMEs seemed to be the main barriers to foreseeing and innovation in Finnish SMEs.