Velik strokovnjak za področje konkurenčnosti Michael Porter je zapisal, da so inovacije ključ do konkurenčnosti. Konkurenčnost je zelo pomembna iz sledečega razloga: ob pogledu na različne ugledne lestvice konkurenčnosti (lestvica WEF, IMD iz Lozane) ugotovimo, da so najbolj konkurenčne države na svetu tudi države, ki zagotavljajo na svetu najvišji življenjski standard svojim prebivalcem. Tako je jasno, da imajo v današnjem času inovacije ogromen vpliv na kvaliteto življenja ljudi. Inoviranje je v sodobnem gospodarstvu ključno za poslovni uspeh podjetij. Brez inoviranja so današnja podjetja obsojena na slabše poslovne uspehe, ki odločilno vplivajo na višino plač zaposlenih. Višina plač pomembno vpliva na kvaliteto življenja ljudi. Podjetja v Podravju in celotni Sloveniji so premalo inovativna, zato je potrebno okrepiti inoviranje znotraj podjetij. Prvi pogoj, da Podravje postane inovativna regija je, da kulturne in družbene vrednote ljudi podpirajo in spodbujajo inovativnost, inovacije, oziroma ljudi, ki premorejo te lastnosti. Država, s svojimi človeškimi in finančnimi viri, ima veliko vlogo pri spodbujanju inovativnosti ljudi in podjetij. Znotraj podjetij pa ima management ključno vlogo pri izboljšanju inovativnosti zaposlenih in podjetij. Eno izmed temeljnih načel managementa je, da zaposlene vodi z lastnim zgledom. V primeru, da managerji, ne cenijo, se ne trudijo za dvig inovativnosti podjetij, bodo zaposleni ravnali podobno. S tem ne bo prišlo do izboljšanja inovativnosti podjetij, kar lahko ogrozi njihovo prihodnost v sodobnem gospodarstvu. Glavna pozornost v nalogi je namenjena majhnim podjetjem, ki imajo nekaj deset zaposlenih. Tem podjetjem je, za razliko od mikro podjetij, uspelo razviti večji obseg poslovanja. S tem so lahko zaposlili večje število ljudi. Gospodarstvo in družba, še posebej v sedanji gospodarski krizi, nujno potrebuje podjetja, ki ustvarijo večje število delovnih mest. Ljudem zaposlitev omogoča boljše življenje. Toda le redki ljudje, ki jih običajno imenujemo podjetniki, zmorejo in uspejo praktično iz nič ustvariti podjetje z nekaj deset zaposlenimi. Večino novih delovnih mest ustvarijo prav podjetniki oziroma mala in srednja podjetja. Zato družba mora ceniti in podpirati podjetnike, saj imajo ti zelo pomembno vlogo v gospodarskem razvoju. Podravska regija po vseh vodilnih kazalcih razvitosti (plače, zaposlenost, BDP na prebivalca, dodana vrednost na zaposlenega) zaostaja za osrednjeslovensko regijo, ki je najbolj razvita regija v Sloveniji. Da podravska regija nadoknadi razvojni zaostanek za osrednjeslovensko regijo bodo morali centri odločanja v regiji nameniti večjo pozornost dvigu inovativnosti podjetij, razvoju podjetništva, povečati vlaganja v raziskave in razvoj, povečati število raziskovalcev v regiji. V 400 podjetij iz podravske regije, ki so imela po podatkih poslovne baze GVIN.com v letu 2011 povprečno število med 10 in 49 zaposlenih, je bila poslana anketa, preko katere smo raziskovali probleme in ovire za inoviranje v malih podjetjih v podravski regiji. Odgovori podjetij so potrdili veliko večino zastavljenih hipotez te magistrske naloge. The great expert in the field of the competitive position Michael Porter wrote, that innovations are the key to the competitive position. The competitive position is very important because of the following reason: when we look at the different respectful scales of the competitive position (the WEF scale, the Lozano's IMD) it is found out, that the most competitive countries in the world are also the countries which provide their inhabitants an assurance of the highest living standard in the world. Thus it is obvious that nowadays innovations have an enormous influence on people's living quality. In the contemporary economy innovating is the key for the enterprises' successful business. Without innovating the present-day enterprises are condemned to worse business success, which crucially influences an amount of employees' salaries. The amount of the salary has an important influence on people's living quality. The enterprises in ''Podravje'' (the area of river Drava) and the enterprises in whole Slovenia as well are not innovative enough, therefore the innovating invigoration within and inside the enterprises is needed. The first condition for the area of river Drava to become an innovative region is that people's cultural and social values are supported and that the innovation, the innovating and the people with innovative abilities are stimulated. The country with its human and financial sources plays a large role in stimulating the enterprises' and people's innovations. However, within and inside enterprises the key role in improving the employees' and enterprises' innovations is played by the enterprises' management. One of the basic management principles is to lead the employees with its own example. In a situation when managers do not appreciate, when they do not strive for raising the level of enterprises' innovation, the employees will follow them and act in the similar way. In the case like this there will not be possible to improve the enterprises' innovation, which may jeopardize their future in the contemporary economy. In this research project I pay the main attention to small enterprises, which have several ten employees. This kind of enterprises has succeeded, as distinguished from micro enterprises, to develop a larger extent of business operations. Consequently they have been able to employ a higher number of people. The economy and the society, especially in the present economic crisis, urgently need enterprises which create a higher number of working places. The employment, being employed, enables people a better life. Nevertheless, there are not many people, who are called entrepreneurs that are able to create and are successful in establishing the enterprise with several ten employees practically out of nothing. Namely, the most of the new working places are created by the entrepreneurs or by the small and the medium size enterprises. That is why the society must appreciate and support the entrepreneurs as they play the significant role in the economic development. Regarding all leading indicators of development (salaries, an employment, gross income per inhabitant, an added value per employee) the region of ''Podravje'' (the area of river Drava) does not keep up with a region of central Slovenia, which is the most developed region in Slovenia. Provided that the region of ''Podravje'' makes up for developmental arrears concerning the region of central Slovenia, the decision-making centres in the region will have to be much more interested in rising the innovations in the enterprises and in the development of the enterprise, they will have to enlarge investments in researches and the development, they will have to raise the number of researchers in the region. There was a questionnaire sent to 400 enterprises in the region of ''Podravje'', which had in the year 2011, regarding the data of business base GWIN.com, the average number of employees between 10 and 49. With a help of that questionnaire we were investigating problems and obstacles of innovating in the small enterprises in the regio