Leading the innovation efforts are Greece, Belgium, and Germany, emphasizing the importance of innovation for business competitiveness.
Business innovation refers to the wide range of activities that businesses undertake to develop new goods or services and bring them to market. The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) reports on two types of innovation: product innovation and business process innovation. The latest CIS results show that more than half (53%) of all EU businesses reported some form of innovation.
The highest proportion of innovative enterprises was reported in Greece (73% of all enterprises), followed by Belgium (71%), Germany and Finland (both 69%) and Cyprus (66%). Conversely, the lowest innovation activity was observed in Romania, Latvia (32%), Hungary and Spain (both 33%) and Poland (35%).
The share of innovative enterprises, in total enterprises, decreased in 2020-2022 period compared to 2018-2020 period by two percentage points, according to statistics board.
Enterprises in services have innovated more than those in industry, while large enterprises twice as innovative as SMEs; The share of product-only innovative enterprises is about 2.8 percentage points higher than the share of business process-only innovative enterprises.
The number of enterprises that implemented “new products for the enterprise” is 3.1 times higher than the number of those that introduced “new products on the market”. Innovative enterprises cooperated more with each other in 2020-2022 period compared to 2018-2020 period.
In 2020-2022 period, overall, just like in 2018-2020 period, large enterprises with at least 250 employees were twice as innovative as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Of the total number of large enterprises, 20.6% were innovative, while SMEs innovated in proportion of 8.3%. However, compared to 2018-2020 period, the share of large innovative enterprises decreased by 2.0 percentage points, from 22.6% to 20.6%, and innovative SMEs saw the same downward trend, by 1, 8 percentage points, respectively to 8.3% from 10.1%.
Of the total enterprises, 4.1% were innovative only of new or improved products, 3.1% implemented both product and business process innovations, and 1.3% applied only for business process innovations. The share of innovative goods enterprises, in total enterprises, increased, in the period 2020-2022, by 0.1 percentage points (from 5.0% to 5.1%). Innovative service enterprises also grew by 0.5 percentage points (from 4.8% to 5.3%).
The share of “new to the market” and “new to the enterprise” products in total enterprises remained approximately constant in the 2020-2022 period compared to the 2018-2020 period. The share of innovative enterprises that introduced “new products on the market”, in total enterprises, decreased slightly, overall, by 0.2 percentage points, and in small and medium-sized enterprises by 0.1 percentage points, respectively by 0.4 percentage points, but increased slightly in large enterprises, by 0.5 percentage points, in the period 2020-2022 compared to 2018-2020 period.
The share of innovative enterprises that introduced “new products for the enterprise”, in total enterprises, increased slightly, overall, by 0.2 percentage points, growth supported by small and large enterprises by 0.3 percentage points, respectively by 0.6 percentage points, but it decreased slightly for medium-sized enterprises, by 0.1 percentage points, in 2020-2022 period compared to 2018-2020 period.