Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
G2: European Businesses
1.3. Contact name
Restricted from publication
1.4. Contact person function
Restricted from publication
1.5. Contact mail address
L-2920 Luxembourg
LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Restricted from publication
1.7. Contact phone number
Restricted from publication
1.8. Contact fax number
Restricted from publication
2.1. Metadata last certified
6 February 2023
2.2. Metadata last posted
6 February 2023
2.3. Metadata last update
6 February 2023
3.1. Data description
The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) is a survey about innovation activities in enterprises. The survey is designed to capture the information on different types of innovation, to enable analysis of innovation drivers or to assess the innovation outcomes. The survey focuses among others on the following aspects:
innovation activities
innovation expenditure
innovative products (new to firm; new to the market)
turnover from innovative products
business process innovation
incentives for implementation of innovation
innovation cooperation
source of financing of innovation
sources of information on innovation
innovation barriers
etc.
The information collected allows measuring the innovativeness of business sectors (B-C-D-E-46-H-J-K-71-72-73).
The CIS provides various innovation indicators by three main breakdown variables: type of innovator, economic activity and size class of enterprises.
The innovation survey was first launched in the 90s and became a regular biennial data collection starting from CIS4 (2004) in the EU Member States, EFTA countries and EU candidate countries. Since its launch the survey was based on the methodology laid down in the Oslo Manuals — international standards for conceptualising and collecting data on innovation. First Oslo Manual was published in 1992. It has been revised on three occasions to take into account the experience and expand its measurement framework — in 1997, 2005 and in 2018.
The CIS 2020 is the second CIS after the review of the Oslo Manual in 2018, resulting in its 4th edition (Oslo Manual (2018) 4th Edition).
The structure of the outputs of CIS 2020 (and CIS 2018) differs from previous CIS results due to a) significantly different approach in conceptualising the ‘innovation’ and b) a change in survey design. As for the concept of ‘innovation’: whereas before it was classified along ‘product’, ‘process’, ‘marketing’ and ‘organisational’ innovations, there are now only two classes, ‘product’ and ‘business process’ innovation.
A change in questionnaire design marked mostly the change in target of responding units for different questions: since 2018 CIS has became a standardised, multi-usage survey with majority of questions (and variables) addressed to all the enterprises and not only to innovative enterprises what allowed to present the results for all enterprises (‘Total’), innovative enterprises (INN) and non-innovative enterprises (NINN).
See the document in Annex 1 detailing the transition from CIS 2016 to CIS 2018.
For each survey round, Eurostat together with the countries develops a standard core questionnaire – Harmonised Data Collection (HDC) listing the mandatory and rotational questions to be provided within a given round. The questionnaire includes the set of definitions and methodological recommendations to assure the comparability among countries. The CIS 2020 HDC is available in the Annex 2.
The inventory of questions and concepts included in CIS questionnaires since 1992 can be viewed in newly created virtual tool – CIS Questionnaire Library.
CIS 2020 results are collected under Commission Regulation No 995/2012. The Regulation defines the mandatory target population of the survey referring to enterprises in the Core NACE categories (see section 3.3) with at least 10 employees. Eurostat recommended using ‘person employed’ as size class unit already for the CIS 2018 in order to comply with the latest measurement standards in European business statistics and recommendations of Oslo Manual 4th edition. The standard mandatory questions refer to number of innovative enterprise, product and goods new to the market and new to the firm, innovation cooperation, objectives of innovation, sources of information for innovation, hampering factors, innovation developer, turnover from innovation and expenditure on innovation.
The following questions are new in CIS 2020: market environment, consequences of climate change for business activities, innovations with environmental benefits, drivers of innovations with environmental benefits.
Most statistics in CIS 2020 are based on the 3-year reference period 2018-2020, but some use only one calendar year (2018 or 2020) (See details in the Annex 2 HDC).
3.2. Classification system
Firm-level indicators are classified by country, economic activity (NACE Rev. 2), size class of enterprises and type of innovation.
The main typology of classification of enterprises is the distinction between Innovative enterprises (INN) and non-innovative enterprises (NINN).
The enterprise is considered innovative (INN) if it successfully introduced a product or process innovation during the reference period, had ongoing innovation activities, abandoned innovation activities, completed these activities but had not yet introduced an innovation, or was engaged in in-house R&D or R&D contracted out. Non-innovative (NINN) enterprises had not been involved in the innovation activity mentioned above during the reference period.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Following the Commission Regulation 995/2012 on innovation statistics, the following industries and services are included in the core target population:
CORE INDUSTRY (excluding construction) (NACE Rev. 2 SECTIONS B_C_D_E)
B: MINING AND QUARRYING
C: MANUFACTURING
10-12: Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco
13-15: Manufacture of textiles, wearing apparel, leather and related products
16-18: Manufacture of wood, paper, printing and reproduction
20: Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
21: Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations
19-22: Manufacture of petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber and plastic products
23: Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products
24: Manufacture of basic metals
25: Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment
26: Manufacture of computers, electronic and optical products
25-30: Manufacture of fabricated metal products (except machinery and equipment), computer, electronic and optical products, electrical equipment, motor vehicles and other transport equipment
31-33: Manufacture of furniture; jewellery, musical instruments, toys; repair and installation of machinery and equipment
D: ELECTRICITY, GAS, STEAM AND AIR CONDITIONING SUPPLY
E: WATER SUPPLY; SEWERAGE, WASTE MANAGEMENT AND REMEDIATION ACTIVITIES
CORE SERVICES (NACE Rev. 2 sections & divisions 46-H-J-K-71-72-73)(NACE code in the tables = G46-M73_INN)
46: Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
H: TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE
49-51: Land transport and transport via pipelines, water transport and air transport
52-53: Warehousing and support activities for transportation and postal and courier activities
J: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
58: Publishing activities
61: Telecommunications
62: Computer programming, consultancy and related activities
63: Information service activities
K: FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE ACTIVITIES
64: Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding
65: Insurance, reinsurance and pension funding, except compulsory social security
66: Activities auxiliary to financial services and insurance activities
M: PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES
71: Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis
72: Scientific research and development
73: Advertising and market research
71-73: Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis; Scientific research and development; Advertising and market research
The following size classes of enterprises according to the number of employees* are included in the core target population of the CIS 2020:
10 - 49 employees
50 - 249 employees
250 or more employees
*Note: The Commission Regulation 995/2012 uses ‘employee’ as the classification unit for firm size class. However, the recommendation for CIS 2020 and onwards is to use ‘person employed’ to comply with current measurement standards in European business statistics and Oslo Manual 4th Edition recommendations. This information will be completed after the publication of the final data in Autumn 2022.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The CIS provides information on the characteristics of innovation activities at the enterprise level. It allows Europe's progress to be monitored in the area of innovation, creating a better understanding of the innovation process with analyses of the objectives and the effects of firm innovation activity. These results can also be linked to variables related to competitiveness, employment and economic growth.
The concepts are in line with those recommended by the Oslo Manual (2018, 4th Edition), which is the internationally recognized standard methodology for collecting innovation statistics.
Main concepts and definitions used for the CIS data collection:
An innovation is a new or improved product, or process (or combination thereof) that differs significantly from the unit’s previous products or processes and that has been made available to potential users (product) or brought into use by the unit (process).
The minimum requirement for an innovation to occur is that the product or process (marketing or organizational) method must be new or significantly improved to the firm. This includes products, processes and methods that firms are the first to develop and those that have been adopted from other firms or organisations.
Innovation activities include all developmental, financial and commercial activities undertaken by a firm to produce an innovation.
Types of innovation activities:
Successfully introduced product or process innovation
Completed innovation activities but not yet implemented innovation
On-going innovation activities, with work in progress that has not yet resulted in the implementation of an innovation
Abandoned innovation activities before the implementation of an innovation
R&D activities
R&D activities comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture, and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge.
A product innovation is a new or improved good or service that differs significantly from the firm’s previous goods or services and that has been introduced on the market. Changes of a solely aesthetic nature and the simple resale of new goods and services purchased from other enterprises are not considered as innovation.
A business process innovation is a new or improved business process for one or more business functions. It differs significantly from the firm’s previous business processes and has been implemented by the firm. The new definition of business process innovation merges the earlier concepts of process, marketing, and organisational innovation.
An overview of the operational definitions for types of innovators and main indicators based on CIS HDC 2020 is available in the Annex 4.
Together with and based on the CIS traditional concepts and definitions, seven mutually exclusive innovation profiles have been developed along a hierarchical structure that makes it possible to show the differences in how enterprises innovate. At the very top level, the structure distinguishes enterprises with innovation activities from those without them. At the second level, it distinguishes enterprises that have implemented an innovation during the reference period from those that have not. The third level refers to the innovation capabilities of enterprises. The resulting ‘innovation profiles’ are:
Profile I: In-house product innovators with market novelties. This group includes all enterprises that introduced a product innovation that was developed by the enterprise and that was not previously offered by competitors (‘new to the market’).
Profile II: In-house product innovators without market novelties. This group includes all enterprises that introduced a product innovation that was developed by the enterprise but that is identical or very similar to products already offered by competitors (‘only new to the enterprise itself’).
Profile III: In-house business process innovators. This group includes all enterprises that did not introduce a product innovation, but that did introduce a business process innovation that was developed by the enterprise.
Profile IV: Innovators without substantial own innovation capabilities. This group includes all enterprises that introduced an innovation of any kind but did not develop it themselves.
Profile V: Non-innovators that worked on innovations but did not implement them. This group includes all enterprises that have not introduced any innovation recently, but have either ongoing or abandoned innovation activities.
Profile VI: Non-innovators that tried to innovate but were impeded. This group includes all enterprises that did not introduce any innovation, and had no ongoing or abandoned innovation activities, but that did consider to innovate.
Profile VII: Non-innovators that did not try to innovate. This group includes all other enterprises, those that neither introduced an innovation nor have any ongoing or abandoned innovation activities, nor considered to innovate.
The derivation rules for the Innovation Profiles based on CIS HDC 2020 are available in Annex 7. The derivation differs slightly for Profile ? compared to the 2018 edition.
3.5. Statistical unit
The main statistical unit is the enterprise, as defined in the Council Regulation on statistical units (Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993, OJ No L76 of 3 March 1993) or as defined in statistical Business Registers.
The Regulation defines the enterprise as the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. It may carry out one or more activities at one or more locations, and it may be a combination of legal units, one single legal unit or part of a legal unit.
3.6. Statistical population
The population of the CIS is determined by the size of the enterprise and its principal activity. All enterprises with 10 or more employees* in any of the Core NACE (see section 3.3 above) categories are included in the statistical population.
*Note: The Commission Regulation 995/2012 uses ‘employee’ as the classification unit for firm size class. However, the recommendation since CIS 2018 is to use ‘person employed’ to comply with current measurement standards in business statistics and Oslo Manual 4th Edition recommendations. This information will be completed after the publication of the final data in Autumn 2022.
3.7. Reference area
The results of CIS 2020 are published for EU Member States, Norway, and Türkiye.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Several rounds of the Community Innovation Survey have been conducted so far at two-year intervals since the mid 90’s.
CIS wave
Reference period
Code Eurobase
CIS2
1994-1996
CIS2
CIS3
1998-2000
CIS3
CIS light
2002-2003*
CIS light
CIS4
2002-2004
CIS4
CIS2006
2004-2006
CIS5
CIS2008
2006-2008
CIS6
CIS2010
2008-2010
CIS7
CIS2012
2010-2012
CIS8
CIS2014
2012-2014
CIS9
CIS2016
2014-2016
CIS10
CIS2018
2016-2018
CIS11
CIS2020
2018-2020
CIS12
*two reference periods can be distinguished for CIS light: 2000-2002 and 2001-2003
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
CIS 2020 indicators are available according to 4 units of measure:
NR — Number. The number of enterprises and the number of persons employed.
THS_EUR — Thousands of euros. All financial variables are provided in thousands of euros, i.e., Turnover or Innovation expenditure.
PC — Percentage. The percentage is the ratio between the selected combinations of indicators.
The CIS 2020 mainly covers a 3-year reference period (2018-2020). Some indicators may, however, refer to only one calendar year — 2020.
Eurobase, this metadata, and broader methodological notes use by convention the year 2020 for reference period and as the year of the survey round.
The information on the reference period of collected indicators is available in the Annex 2 of this Metadata file.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
CIS surveys are based on the Commission Regulation No 995/2012, implementing Decision No 1608/2003/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the production and development of Community statistics on science and technology.
The Regulation establishes innovation statistics on a statutory basis and makes the delivery of certain variables compulsory e.g., innovation activities, partners in cooperation and in development of innovation, turnover and expenditure on innovation (see the Regulation). Each survey wave may include additional variables (see section 3.1).
The Regulation also defines the obligatory cross-coverage of economic sectors and size class of enterprises.
From the CIS 2022 onwards, the CIS will be governed by the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European Business Statistics, as well as the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1092 laying down technical specifications of data requirements for the topic ‘Innovation’ pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164) stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Primary and secondary confidentiality of the CIS data is managed by the countries. The confidential data are sent with an appropriate ‘c’ flag if it is meant to restrict from publication.
Eurostat honours national flagging rules and is not executing any additional operation and manipulations than removing flagged values while publishing the results. Primary and secondary confidentiality is respected for any data publicly released.
The European aggregates are not calculated if data of one country are flagged as confidential.
8.1. Release calendar
No official calendar is available for CIS data release.
CIS final data can be expected in the second semester of even-numbered years (t+2) after processing of the data collected in the frame of regular data collection scheduled in t+18.
However, several indicators collected on voluntary basis in the frame of ‘Fast Track’ data collection in t+15 for CIS 2020 were released in Eurobase in July 2022 as preliminary data. The final data replace preliminary data.
8.2. Release calendar access
No official calendar is available for CIS data release. However, CIS data are expected in the second semester of even-numbered years (t+2).
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice, Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence, in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Since 2004, the results of Community Innovation Surveys have been disseminated every two years in pair years.
The CIS microdata sets are available exclusively for research purposes. The access is provided according to contracts established between Eurostat and the corresponding research institutions.
Two versions of microdata are made available, and they differ on the level of information retained:
Secure use files: confidential data as obtained from the national authorities. They allow only indirect identification of the statistical units concerned. Access to these data is only possible in the Eurostat SAFE Centre.
Scientific use files: anonymised microdata sets extracted from the data mentioned above. The individual statistical records have been modified to minimise, in accordance with current best practice, the risk of indirect identification of the statistical units to which they relate. This access is given via encrypted channels.
Regional data by NUTS 1 are provided by countries on a voluntary basis and are available in the Safe Centre only. CIS data are not panel data; therefore longitudinal analysis is, in general, not possible.
The implementation frameworks for the release of EU microdata for scientific purposes are defined in the Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002.
Please consult the documents available in the section Annex of this Metadata.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
National quality reports in single metadata format (SIMS) are produced under the provision of the current Regulation. National SIMS related to CIS 2020 will be disseminated by the end of 2022.
Synthesis Quality Report 2020 summarizing national reports will be drafted in the year after the dissemination of national reports.
Users interested in quality aspects of the previous surveys may refer to the CIS Synthesis Quality Reports available in the Annexes of metadata related to the previous waves.
11.1. Quality assurance
In accordance with Annex III to Commission Regulation No 995/2012, the provision of Quality Reports by each Member States is mandatory. This report includes key quality indicators such as non-response rates, coefficient of variation, etc.
The CIS Quality Reports that the countries must fill conform with the ESS (European Statistical System) Single Integrated Metadata Structure (SIMS).
Starting with 2018 data collection, the national quality reports are published online. National SIMS related to CIS 2020 will be disseminated by the end of 2022.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
A high degree of harmonisation in concepts and methods has been achieved through the adoption of Commission Regulation N° 995/2012, the recommendations of the Oslo Manual for the compilation of innovation statistics and the development of CIS Harmonised Data Collection (HDC) questionnaires.
Countries may deviate from the HDC by introducing additional questions and/or modifying existing questions to satisfy specific national needs. The information on deviations from the Regulation and HDC is available in national quality reports - SIMS (available by the end of 2022).
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The CIS 2020 provides an understanding of the types of innovation introduced by enterprises, their features, and their development. The survey provides information on the sources of information, cooperation, and methods for maintaining or increasing competitiveness. CIS also allows cross-analyses using economic indicators such as the Number of employees or Turnover.
A user satisfaction survey is generally not carried out at the Eurostat level. However, some countries periodically conduct satisfaction surveys or receive user ad-hoc feedback.
12.3. Completeness
All the countries collected and provided mandatory indicators. However for the reasons of low reliability or due to methodological discrepancies, the following indicators were not released:
Indicator on completed but not implemented innovations is not disseminated for DK, IE, IT, NL, SE as it covered also implemented innovations
Turnover from products new to the enterprise or new to the market is not disseminated for EE due to lack of full coverage
The overview of availability of data by question included in HDC 2020 (including not mandatory) is available in the Annex 7.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The information will be available in national quality reports - SIMS (planned release by the end of 2022).
13.2. Sampling error
The information will be available in national quality reports - SIMS (planned release by the end of 2022).
13.3. Non-sampling error
The information will be available in national quality reports - SIMS (planned release by the end of 2022).
14.1. Timeliness
According to Commission Regulation No 995/2012, national CIS statistics must be delivered to Eurostat within 18 (t+18) months from the end of the reference year (t).
Most countries conformed to the Regulation and transmitted the data by the requested time. Eurostat plans the dissemination of final data in Autumn 2022.
Overview of the timeliness of data provision:
24 countries – by the deadline;
3 countries – within a month after a deadline;
2 countries – delay of 2 months after a deadline.
Same basic indicators collected in the frame of ‘Fast Track’ data collection in t+15 were published in Eurobase as preliminary data (flagged ‘p’) in t+19.
14.2. Punctuality
The majority of countries were punctual in delivering CIS data to Eurostat.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
In order to ensure comparability across countries, Eurostat, in close cooperation with the EU Member States and other countries, develops a standard core questionnaire (Harmonised Data Collection – HDC) for each CIS round, with an accompanying set of definitions and methodological recommendations.
The complete list of questions (and variables) included in all CIS waves since 1992 can be accessed via a virtual tool - CIS Questionnaire Library.
Most countries follow the proposed structure and filtering used in the HDC. In some instances, the questions on basic economic information are placed at the beginning of the national survey. It is recommended to extract the information related to enterprise identification (question 1), ‘Turnover’ and ‘Number of employees/persons employed’ from the Business Registers whenever possible.
Missing data for the NACE categories covered by the EC Regulation 995/2012 may appear in the tables when the lack of an adequate number of observations does not permit appropriate data dissemination.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The CIS 2020 follows the methodology recommended by the latest Oslo Manual 4th Edition, revised in 2018. This edition redefined the concept of innovation by distinguishing between ‘product’ and ‘business process’ innovation, this latter formerly split into the categories of process, organizational and marketing innovations.
The CIS 2018 was the first wave to implement the new guidelines: substantial changes were brought in the questionnaire to capture a revised list of innovation indicators. The questionnaire removed the majority of filters used until the 2016 wave, reduced the complexity of conditions for base populations, and thus allowed to increase the number of respondents to questions previously subject to filters. With this significant change, most indicators are computed for the total population and the groups of Innovative (INN) and Non-innovative enterprises (NINN).The CIS 2020 applies fully the new structure and filtering rules of the CIS 2018.
The CIS 2018 recommended using the number of ‘employed person’ for the first time in classifying of the enterprises by size class. All previous surveys were based on the number of ‘employees’.
Due to the change in the underlying methodology and structure of the survey, the results of CIS 2018 and CIS 2020 cannot be directly compared with previous rounds. The users should note that the number of indicators transmitted to Eurostat changed.
For more information about the transition from the CIS 2016 to the CIS 2018 please consult the Statistics Explained article – Community Innovation Survey – new features or refer to Annex 1 of the current Metadata file.
In addition to core questions on innovation required by the Regulation 995/2012, the CIS surveys 2018 and 2020 introduced the following new questions:
CIS 2018
CIS 2020
not included
Q2.2 Market environment
Q2.2 Customisation, Co-creation
Q2.3 Customisation, Co-creation
Q2.3 Partners in Customisation, Co-creation
not included
Q2.4 Turnover from Customisation, Co-creation
not included
Q2.7 Used patents and IRPs
Q2.6 Used patents and IRPs
Q2.8 Buying technical services
not included
Q2.9 Purchases of machinery and equipment
Q2.7 Purchases of machinery and equipment
not included
Q2.8 Consequence of climate change on businesses
Q2.10 Using information channels
not included
Q2.11 Organising work
not included
Q3.5 Expectations met (product innovation)
not included
Q3.8 Expectations met (business process innovation)
not included
not included
Q3.16 Innovations with environmental benefits
not included
Q3.17 Drivers for innovations with environmental benefits
Q4.6 Total expenditure
Q4.6 Total expenditure
Q4.8 Enterprise group: inflows and outflows
Q4.8 Enterprise group: inflows and outflows
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
1. Innovation-related variables are unique to each CIS data collection, therefore comparisons with other statistics are not possible.
2. However, the coherence between the CIS and the SBS statistics is very satisfactory on those variables common to both statistical domains (Turnover, number of employees/persons employed, number of enterprises).
15.4. Coherence - internal
No imputation has been done for missing countries’s data. However some estimations have been required to derive ratios or EU aggregates.
Information is not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The general Eurostat revision policy applies to this domain. In principle, the disseminated data are final but might be revised in order to correct possible errors.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Reported errors are assessed for seriousness to determine whether they should trigger a correction of already disseminated data.
Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.
Data for particular CIS rounds may be published even if they are missing for certain countries or flagged as provisional or of low reliability for certain countries. They are replaced with final data once transmitted and validated. European aggregates are updated for consistency with new country data.
18.1. Source data
All aggregations and indicators presented in the CIS collections are based on national CIS data collections.
Countries generally carry out a stratified sample survey to collect the data, while a limited number of countries use a census or a mix of census and sample survey. The target population is to be broken down into strata for sampling purposes. The stratification dimensions are firm size class of enterprises (according to the number of employees*) and the NACE classification of economic activities. These two dimensions are highly correlated with Innovation activity. It is recommended to break down the size classes in at least 3 categories: 10-49 employees (small enterprises), 50-249 employees (medium-sized enterprises), 250 + employees (large enterprises). Stratification by NACE Rev. 2 is generally done by 2-digit level (division) or groups of divisions.
The population of businesses used for the survey sample is mainly represented by the official Statistical Business Register.
*Note: The Commission Regulation 995/2012 uses ‘employee’ as the classification unit for the firm size class. However, the recommendation for the CIS 2018 and onwards is to use ‘person employed’ to comply with current measurement standards in business statistics and Oslo Manual 4th Edition recommendations.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
The frequency of CIS is biennial in all the countries except Germany and Poland which carry out an innovation survey every year.
18.3. Data collection
Eurostat collects aggregated data and microdata from countries every two years. At the national level, data are mainly collected via online or mail surveys. A few countries also choose other collection methods such as telephone or face-to-face interviews.
This information will be updated after completing the national quality reports - SIMS.
As required by the Regulation, countries transmit tabulated data according to the tabulation rules prepared by Eurostat. The data transmission system used since the CIS 2018 is based on SDMX standards and uses a common dictionary for all the variables and indicators. This system integrates the structural and content validation in the transmission step. Validated data are further processed to derive various aggregates and innovation indicators disseminated in the Eurobase CIS domain.
18.4. Data validation
Eurostat provides national authorities responsible for CIS data production with recommendations to assure the best quality of national micro and aggregated outputs. Quality controls at the Eurostat level consist of validation of tabulated national data according to domain-specific rules. The extensive structural and content checks are integrated into the production chain as a distinct module and are performed during the transmission step on a fully automated basis. In content validation, the checks verify the accuracy of totals, the intra- and inter-variable(s) consistency, and the coherence between dependent variables. Validation of data series is added on top of structural and content validation and aims at detecting currency issues or unusual variations of basic indicators. Validation reports are delivered to countries to report any deviation from the rules. The structural, content and data series validation takes place before final processing and derivation of ratio and aggregates. After this stage, a 4th check is performed – comparison of relative indicators among countries. This comparison complements previous validation rounds and is intended to spot outliers or unusual distributions of data.
18.5. Data compilation
At the national level, as in any regular sample survey, countries extrapolate the collected data with appropriate weighting schemes in order to obtain the population totals. At each survey round, national data producers compile the tabulated outputs according to Eurostat’s calculation rules and algorithms for a given round. After the data transmission to Eurostat, the compilation of data consists of assembling national data and deriving of the ratio and European aggregates that are summed up from national data. Derived data are then disseminated in the Eurobase tables.
18.6. Adjustment
If non-response in a national survey based on the ratio between non-responding and operating enterprises in the total sample population exceeds 30%, a non-response analysis is recommended. At least a 10% sample of the relevant non-respondents should be drawn, and a non-response survey then undertaken.
In the CIS surveys, some countries add extra questions for national purposes; similarly, some exclude some or all optional questions. This information will be available in the national quality reports - SIMS (by the end of 2022).
The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) is a survey about innovation activities in enterprises. The survey is designed to capture the information on different types of innovation, to enable analysis of innovation drivers or to assess the innovation outcomes. The survey focuses among others on the following aspects:
innovation activities
innovation expenditure
innovative products (new to firm; new to the market)
turnover from innovative products
business process innovation
incentives for implementation of innovation
innovation cooperation
source of financing of innovation
sources of information on innovation
innovation barriers
etc.
The information collected allows measuring the innovativeness of business sectors (B-C-D-E-46-H-J-K-71-72-73).
The CIS provides various innovation indicators by three main breakdown variables: type of innovator, economic activity and size class of enterprises.
The innovation survey was first launched in the 90s and became a regular biennial data collection starting from CIS4 (2004) in the EU Member States, EFTA countries and EU candidate countries. Since its launch the survey was based on the methodology laid down in the Oslo Manuals — international standards for conceptualising and collecting data on innovation. First Oslo Manual was published in 1992. It has been revised on three occasions to take into account the experience and expand its measurement framework — in 1997, 2005 and in 2018.
The CIS 2020 is the second CIS after the review of the Oslo Manual in 2018, resulting in its 4th edition (Oslo Manual (2018) 4th Edition).
The structure of the outputs of CIS 2020 (and CIS 2018) differs from previous CIS results due to a) significantly different approach in conceptualising the ‘innovation’ and b) a change in survey design. As for the concept of ‘innovation’: whereas before it was classified along ‘product’, ‘process’, ‘marketing’ and ‘organisational’ innovations, there are now only two classes, ‘product’ and ‘business process’ innovation.
A change in questionnaire design marked mostly the change in target of responding units for different questions: since 2018 CIS has became a standardised, multi-usage survey with majority of questions (and variables) addressed to all the enterprises and not only to innovative enterprises what allowed to present the results for all enterprises (‘Total’), innovative enterprises (INN) and non-innovative enterprises (NINN).
See the document in Annex 1 detailing the transition from CIS 2016 to CIS 2018.
For each survey round, Eurostat together with the countries develops a standard core questionnaire – Harmonised Data Collection (HDC) listing the mandatory and rotational questions to be provided within a given round. The questionnaire includes the set of definitions and methodological recommendations to assure the comparability among countries. The CIS 2020 HDC is available in the Annex 2.
The inventory of questions and concepts included in CIS questionnaires since 1992 can be viewed in newly created virtual tool – CIS Questionnaire Library.
CIS 2020 results are collected under Commission Regulation No 995/2012. The Regulation defines the mandatory target population of the survey referring to enterprises in the Core NACE categories (see section 3.3) with at least 10 employees. Eurostat recommended using ‘person employed’ as size class unit already for the CIS 2018 in order to comply with the latest measurement standards in European business statistics and recommendations of Oslo Manual 4th edition. The standard mandatory questions refer to number of innovative enterprise, product and goods new to the market and new to the firm, innovation cooperation, objectives of innovation, sources of information for innovation, hampering factors, innovation developer, turnover from innovation and expenditure on innovation.
The following questions are new in CIS 2020: market environment, consequences of climate change for business activities, innovations with environmental benefits, drivers of innovations with environmental benefits.
Most statistics in CIS 2020 are based on the 3-year reference period 2018-2020, but some use only one calendar year (2018 or 2020) (See details in the Annex 2 HDC).
6 February 2023
The CIS provides information on the characteristics of innovation activities at the enterprise level. It allows Europe's progress to be monitored in the area of innovation, creating a better understanding of the innovation process with analyses of the objectives and the effects of firm innovation activity. These results can also be linked to variables related to competitiveness, employment and economic growth.
The concepts are in line with those recommended by the Oslo Manual (2018, 4th Edition), which is the internationally recognized standard methodology for collecting innovation statistics.
Main concepts and definitions used for the CIS data collection:
An innovation is a new or improved product, or process (or combination thereof) that differs significantly from the unit’s previous products or processes and that has been made available to potential users (product) or brought into use by the unit (process).
The minimum requirement for an innovation to occur is that the product or process (marketing or organizational) method must be new or significantly improved to the firm. This includes products, processes and methods that firms are the first to develop and those that have been adopted from other firms or organisations.
Innovation activities include all developmental, financial and commercial activities undertaken by a firm to produce an innovation.
Types of innovation activities:
Successfully introduced product or process innovation
Completed innovation activities but not yet implemented innovation
On-going innovation activities, with work in progress that has not yet resulted in the implementation of an innovation
Abandoned innovation activities before the implementation of an innovation
R&D activities
R&D activities comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture, and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge.
A product innovation is a new or improved good or service that differs significantly from the firm’s previous goods or services and that has been introduced on the market. Changes of a solely aesthetic nature and the simple resale of new goods and services purchased from other enterprises are not considered as innovation.
A business process innovation is a new or improved business process for one or more business functions. It differs significantly from the firm’s previous business processes and has been implemented by the firm. The new definition of business process innovation merges the earlier concepts of process, marketing, and organisational innovation.
An overview of the operational definitions for types of innovators and main indicators based on CIS HDC 2020 is available in the Annex 4.
Together with and based on the CIS traditional concepts and definitions, seven mutually exclusive innovation profiles have been developed along a hierarchical structure that makes it possible to show the differences in how enterprises innovate. At the very top level, the structure distinguishes enterprises with innovation activities from those without them. At the second level, it distinguishes enterprises that have implemented an innovation during the reference period from those that have not. The third level refers to the innovation capabilities of enterprises. The resulting ‘innovation profiles’ are:
Profile I: In-house product innovators with market novelties. This group includes all enterprises that introduced a product innovation that was developed by the enterprise and that was not previously offered by competitors (‘new to the market’).
Profile II: In-house product innovators without market novelties. This group includes all enterprises that introduced a product innovation that was developed by the enterprise but that is identical or very similar to products already offered by competitors (‘only new to the enterprise itself’).
Profile III: In-house business process innovators. This group includes all enterprises that did not introduce a product innovation, but that did introduce a business process innovation that was developed by the enterprise.
Profile IV: Innovators without substantial own innovation capabilities. This group includes all enterprises that introduced an innovation of any kind but did not develop it themselves.
Profile V: Non-innovators that worked on innovations but did not implement them. This group includes all enterprises that have not introduced any innovation recently, but have either ongoing or abandoned innovation activities.
Profile VI: Non-innovators that tried to innovate but were impeded. This group includes all enterprises that did not introduce any innovation, and had no ongoing or abandoned innovation activities, but that did consider to innovate.
Profile VII: Non-innovators that did not try to innovate. This group includes all other enterprises, those that neither introduced an innovation nor have any ongoing or abandoned innovation activities, nor considered to innovate.
The derivation rules for the Innovation Profiles based on CIS HDC 2020 are available in Annex 7. The derivation differs slightly for Profile ? compared to the 2018 edition.
The main statistical unit is the enterprise, as defined in the Council Regulation on statistical units (Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993, OJ No L76 of 3 March 1993) or as defined in statistical Business Registers.
The Regulation defines the enterprise as the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. It may carry out one or more activities at one or more locations, and it may be a combination of legal units, one single legal unit or part of a legal unit.
The population of the CIS is determined by the size of the enterprise and its principal activity. All enterprises with 10 or more employees* in any of the Core NACE (see section 3.3 above) categories are included in the statistical population.
*Note: The Commission Regulation 995/2012 uses ‘employee’ as the classification unit for firm size class. However, the recommendation since CIS 2018 is to use ‘person employed’ to comply with current measurement standards in business statistics and Oslo Manual 4th Edition recommendations. This information will be completed after the publication of the final data in Autumn 2022.
The results of CIS 2020 are published for EU Member States, Norway, and Türkiye.
The CIS 2020 mainly covers a 3-year reference period (2018-2020). Some indicators may, however, refer to only one calendar year — 2020.
Eurobase, this metadata, and broader methodological notes use by convention the year 2020 for reference period and as the year of the survey round.
The information on the reference period of collected indicators is available in the Annex 2 of this Metadata file.
The information will be available in national quality reports - SIMS (planned release by the end of 2022).
CIS 2020 indicators are available according to 4 units of measure:
NR — Number. The number of enterprises and the number of persons employed.
THS_EUR — Thousands of euros. All financial variables are provided in thousands of euros, i.e., Turnover or Innovation expenditure.
PC — Percentage. The percentage is the ratio between the selected combinations of indicators.
At the national level, as in any regular sample survey, countries extrapolate the collected data with appropriate weighting schemes in order to obtain the population totals. At each survey round, national data producers compile the tabulated outputs according to Eurostat’s calculation rules and algorithms for a given round. After the data transmission to Eurostat, the compilation of data consists of assembling national data and deriving of the ratio and European aggregates that are summed up from national data. Derived data are then disseminated in the Eurobase tables.
All aggregations and indicators presented in the CIS collections are based on national CIS data collections.
Countries generally carry out a stratified sample survey to collect the data, while a limited number of countries use a census or a mix of census and sample survey. The target population is to be broken down into strata for sampling purposes. The stratification dimensions are firm size class of enterprises (according to the number of employees*) and the NACE classification of economic activities. These two dimensions are highly correlated with Innovation activity. It is recommended to break down the size classes in at least 3 categories: 10-49 employees (small enterprises), 50-249 employees (medium-sized enterprises), 250 + employees (large enterprises). Stratification by NACE Rev. 2 is generally done by 2-digit level (division) or groups of divisions.
The population of businesses used for the survey sample is mainly represented by the official Statistical Business Register.
*Note: The Commission Regulation 995/2012 uses ‘employee’ as the classification unit for the firm size class. However, the recommendation for the CIS 2018 and onwards is to use ‘person employed’ to comply with current measurement standards in business statistics and Oslo Manual 4th Edition recommendations.
Since 2004, the results of Community Innovation Surveys have been disseminated every two years in pair years.
According to Commission Regulation No 995/2012, national CIS statistics must be delivered to Eurostat within 18 (t+18) months from the end of the reference year (t).
Most countries conformed to the Regulation and transmitted the data by the requested time. Eurostat plans the dissemination of final data in Autumn 2022.
Overview of the timeliness of data provision:
24 countries – by the deadline;
3 countries – within a month after a deadline;
2 countries – delay of 2 months after a deadline.
Same basic indicators collected in the frame of ‘Fast Track’ data collection in t+15 were published in Eurobase as preliminary data (flagged ‘p’) in t+19.
In order to ensure comparability across countries, Eurostat, in close cooperation with the EU Member States and other countries, develops a standard core questionnaire (Harmonised Data Collection – HDC) for each CIS round, with an accompanying set of definitions and methodological recommendations.
The complete list of questions (and variables) included in all CIS waves since 1992 can be accessed via a virtual tool - CIS Questionnaire Library.
Most countries follow the proposed structure and filtering used in the HDC. In some instances, the questions on basic economic information are placed at the beginning of the national survey. It is recommended to extract the information related to enterprise identification (question 1), ‘Turnover’ and ‘Number of employees/persons employed’ from the Business Registers whenever possible.
Missing data for the NACE categories covered by the EC Regulation 995/2012 may appear in the tables when the lack of an adequate number of observations does not permit appropriate data dissemination.
The CIS 2020 follows the methodology recommended by the latest Oslo Manual 4th Edition, revised in 2018. This edition redefined the concept of innovation by distinguishing between ‘product’ and ‘business process’ innovation, this latter formerly split into the categories of process, organizational and marketing innovations.
The CIS 2018 was the first wave to implement the new guidelines: substantial changes were brought in the questionnaire to capture a revised list of innovation indicators. The questionnaire removed the majority of filters used until the 2016 wave, reduced the complexity of conditions for base populations, and thus allowed to increase the number of respondents to questions previously subject to filters. With this significant change, most indicators are computed for the total population and the groups of Innovative (INN) and Non-innovative enterprises (NINN).The CIS 2020 applies fully the new structure and filtering rules of the CIS 2018.
The CIS 2018 recommended using the number of ‘employed person’ for the first time in classifying of the enterprises by size class. All previous surveys were based on the number of ‘employees’.
Due to the change in the underlying methodology and structure of the survey, the results of CIS 2018 and CIS 2020 cannot be directly compared with previous rounds. The users should note that the number of indicators transmitted to Eurostat changed.
For more information about the transition from the CIS 2016 to the CIS 2018 please consult the Statistics Explained article – Community Innovation Survey – new features or refer to Annex 1 of the current Metadata file.
In addition to core questions on innovation required by the Regulation 995/2012, the CIS surveys 2018 and 2020 introduced the following new questions:
CIS 2018
CIS 2020
not included
Q2.2 Market environment
Q2.2 Customisation, Co-creation
Q2.3 Customisation, Co-creation
Q2.3 Partners in Customisation, Co-creation
not included
Q2.4 Turnover from Customisation, Co-creation
not included
Q2.7 Used patents and IRPs
Q2.6 Used patents and IRPs
Q2.8 Buying technical services
not included
Q2.9 Purchases of machinery and equipment
Q2.7 Purchases of machinery and equipment
not included
Q2.8 Consequence of climate change on businesses
Q2.10 Using information channels
not included
Q2.11 Organising work
not included
Q3.5 Expectations met (product innovation)
not included
Q3.8 Expectations met (business process innovation)
not included
not included
Q3.16 Innovations with environmental benefits
not included
Q3.17 Drivers for innovations with environmental benefits
