Archive:Innovation statistics

Data from October 2010, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

Europe has a long-standing tradition of producing inventions. However, commentators often focus on an entrepreneurial gap in order to explain why some ideas for new products or services do not become a success in the marketplace, or why other ideas relating to new processes do not get implemented, thereby surrendering the opportunity to make efficiency gains on production lines or within industrial organisations. This article looks at the state of innovation in the European Union (EU) by presenting data on where innovation takes place and how many enterprises are involved.

Main statistical findings

Figure 1: Proportion of innovative enterprises, 2008 (1)
(% of all enterprises)

Figure 2: Turnover from new or significantly improved products new to the market, 2008 (1)
(% of total turnover of innovative enterprises)

Table 1: Proportion of innovative enterprises which introduced products new to the market or own-developed process innovations, 2008
(% of enterprises within size class or total)

Among the EU Member States the highest propensity to innovate in 2008 (see Figure 1) was recorded in Germany (79.9 %), followed by Luxembourg (64.7 %) – these were the only Member States where more than 60 % of all enterprises were innovative - the EU-27 average (excluding Greece) was 51.6 %. The lowest propensity to innovate was recorded in Latvia (24.3 %), Poland (27.9 %) and Hungary (28.9 %) - the only Member States where the proportion of innovative enterprises was below 30 %. Estonia, Cyprus and the Czech Republic were the only Member States that joined the EU in 2004 to report a propensity to innovate above the EU average. Note that large enterprises tend to innovate more than small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and as such these figures for the Member States may, at least to some degree, reflect the enterprise structure of each domestic economy.

New or significantly improved products contributed a relatively small proportion of total turnover among innovative enterprises in 2008, some 6.4 % for the EU-27 (excluding Greece) in 2008, with 19 of the 26 Member States for which data are available reporting single-digit shares (see Figure 2). These products did however account for a higher proportion of sales in Malta (23.4 %), Hungary (14.8 %), Bulgaria (13.9 %) and the Czech Republic (13.1 %).

Large enterprises (with 250 or more employees) were more likely to have brought product innovations to market in 2008 than either medium-sized enterprises (50 to 249 employees) or small enterprises (10 to 49 employees); this pattern held for all of the Member States for which data are available – as shown in Table 1. Lithuania was the only Member State where the proportion of small enterprises with process innovations was above the overall proportion for all enterprises.

A similar size class breakdown for process innovations that are developed within the enterprise also showed that large innovative enterprises were more likely to introduce processes innovations: the main exception to this was Cyprus where such process innovations were much less likely to have been introduced in large enterprises than in small or medium-sized enterprises.

Data sources and availability

The Community innovation survey (CIS) collects information about product and process innovation, as well as organisational and marketing innovations. The legal basis for the collection of these statistics is Regulation 1450/2004 of 13 August 2004 implementing Decision 1608/2003/EC concerning the production and development of Community statistics on innovation.

Innovations are based on the results of new technological developments, new combinations of existing technology, or the use of other knowledge acquired (by the enterprise). For the purpose of the Community innovation survey an innovation is defined as a new or significantly improved product (good or service) introduced to the market, or the introduction within an enterprise of a new or significantly improved process, as well as organisational and marketing innovations, including new logistics or distribution methods. Such innovations may be developed by the innovating enterprise or by another enterprise. However, purely selling innovations wholly produced and developed by other enterprises is not included as an innovation activity, nor is introducing products with purely aesthetic changes. Innovations should therefore be new to the enterprise concerned: for product innovations they do not necessarily have to be new to the market, and for process innovations the enterprise does not necessarily have to be the first one to have introduced the process.

Enterprises with innovation activity include all types of innovator, namely product and process innovators, as well as enterprises with only on-going and/or abandoned innovation activities. Enterprises may cooperate with other parties (for example suppliers, competitors, customers, educational/research establishments) when engaging in an innovative activity. The proportion of enterprises with innovation activity is also referred to as the propensity to innovate.

Context

While Europe is good at producing initial ideas (inventions), it is regarded by some as not being so good at bringing them to market; as such, EU policy in this field increasingly aims to provide more focus to industry-driven, applied research and development (R & D).

Education is another area seen as key to developing an innovation-orientated society, through the acquisition of entrepreneurial, managerial, scientific, mathematical and foreign-language skills, as well as digital literacy. Policymakers express concern at the numbers of science and technology graduates who directly apply their education once they move into the labour market, while a lack of job mobility between universities and business may potentially hinder the transfer of ideas, thereby reducing the EU’s innovation performance (see R & D personnel).

In October 2006, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Decision 1639/2006/EC establishing a competitiveness and innovation framework programme (CIP) for the period 2007-2013. With SMEs as its main target, the competitiveness and innovation framework programme aims to support innovation activities (including eco-innovation), provide better access to finance and deliver business support services in the regions. It encourages the take-up and use of information and communication technologies and aims to help to develop the information society. Furthermore, it also promotes the increased use of renewable energies and energy efficiency.

The European Council called for a plan on innovation in December 2008, which provided the basis for a period of public consultation and business debate on the EU’s future innovation policy. In September 2009, the European Commission adopted a Communication ((2009) 442) ‘reviewing Community innovation policy in a changing world’. In October 2010, as one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the European Commission adopted a Communication ((2010) 546) on an innovation union. This sets outs a comprehensive innovation strategy for Europe, focusing on major areas of concern for citizens such as climate change, energy efficiency and healthy living. It pursues a broad concept of innovation, not only technological, but also in business models, design, branding and services that add value for users. It includes public sector and social innovation as well as commercial innovation. It aims to involve all actors and all regions in the innovation cycle. The policies in the innovation union aim to do three things:

make Europe into a world-class science performer;
revolutionise the way public and private sectors work together, notably through innovation partnerships;
remove bottlenecks like expensive patenting, market fragmentation, slow standard setting and skill shortages, that currently prevent ideas getting quickly to market.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Science and technology, see:

Community innovation survey (t_inn)

Turnover from innovation (tsdec340)

Effects of innovation on material and energy efficiency (tsdec350)

Database

Science and technology, see:

Community innovation survey (inn)

Results of the second community innovation survey (CIS2) (inn_cis2)

Results of the third community innovation survey (CIS3) (inn_cis3)

Results of the fourth community innovation survey (CIS4) (inn_cis4)

Results of the community innovation survey 2006 (CIS2006) (inn_cis5)

Results of the first community innovation light survey - CIS light (inn_cisl)

Methodology / Metadata

Community innovation survey (ESMS metadata file - inn_esms)

Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)

Innovation statistics: tables and figures