Just under three-quarters of respondents admitted to only recording ideas in their head, while 43% went as far as telling someone else and a mere 13% committed pen to paper. As a result, 23% of male respondents said their idea was seized upon and exploited by someone else. The same was said by 16% of female respondents.
Charles Kitchin, regional marketing manager for the EEDA, said: "With innovation being heralded as the new currency for business success, these statistics should cause concern to the business community. "It is clear that people have the ability to come up with great ideas, but they are not being helped or encouraged to capitalise on them."
However, earlier research shows that thousands of people in the UK are acting on ideas. Figures contained in this years' global entrepreneurship monitor show that 6.3% of working adults were involved in a business venture.
Commenting on today's figures, Mike Southern, co-author of 'The Beermat Entrepreneur', said: "People have business ideas every day without realising it. What sets the entrepreneur apart is that they acknowledge their ideas and then put them into practice.