This paper deals with the employment of software in the innovation process in small and medium-sized enterprises. Based on an explorative market study of existing software tools developed to specifically support activities and methods in the innovation process, we found out that a large variety of these software products was available. Hence, our further research addresses the question of how far these products are specifically used in practice in German SMEs. The core outcome of our explorative investigation is the finding that software products are rarely used to support the innovation process in German SMEs. We identified some of the barriers to SME adoption of innovation software in Germany. Based on these findings, initial explanations and implications can be provided for suppliers of innovation software and for SMEs. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.