Business bosses increasingly believe that innovation is the key to continued success, a new study suggests.

According to analysis firm Gartner, chief executives from the UK think that new inventions and ideas are vital to success in an increasingly competitive global economy.

However, the research found that these bosses do not believe their own IT organisations can deliver this visionary thinking and innovation.

In contrast, they believe that organisations operating in highly constrained environments like China and India are driving global innovation.

"In our increasingly customer-centric world we are moving away from the traditional view of innovation, as internally managed and R&D focused," explained Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner.

"Innovation doesn't come from a laboratory. It comes from solving real-life problems and responding to everyday needs regardless of how sophisticated the market might be, with the ultimate goal of enriching people's lives."

Elsewhere in Gartner's report, the organisation predicts that countries like China and India have the ambition to lead the IT industry in the future and continued innovation could help them do this.