Brussels, 10.01.2005 (Agence Europe) - Innobarometer 2004, an evaluation of public support for innovation from the company point of view, published on 9 January by Directorate General Enterprise at the European Commission, aims to characterise public support for innovation from the company point of view through a poll of 4500 managers of European companies of between 20 and 500 members of staff in September and October 2004. The survey covered all 25 Member States, but only covered innovative companies. It also interviewed eight public support programmes, which involve consultancy, market surveys, in-company research, collaboration, training, network management, employment and innovative process services.
According to the Innobarometer 2004, some 31% of EU innovative companies use at least one form of public support for their innovation activities. However, only 12% use the public support for innovation for which they are eligible, which means that firms that may benefit from 3 to 5 different public support programmes generally use only 1 or possibly two. Cyprus and Austrian companies are the most active, with 60.6% and 57.5% respectively of innovative companies using public support, while firms in the new Member States use relatively less public support to assist their innovation. The report points out that the lowest level of take-up for public support in the EU is Latvia (with 16.7%).
The Innobarometer points out that the link between the intensity of a specific public support programme and the innovation performance of Member States as measured by the European Innovation Scoreboard is null, except for the networking support programme. The countries in which a larger proportion of companies use their kind of public support are Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Germany, which also perform very well in the Summary Innovation Index. Support for the diffusion of knowledge may prove to be one of the most promising policy instruments, notes the report, adding that this result should aid the Commission in the development of networking projects. Further examination of the Innovation advice services reveals that private support for innovation accounts for 70%, while public support accounts for only 30%. The more the innovative potential of the company (measured in terms of R+D, patenting activity and investment in training), the more the companies use the Innovation advice services. The evaluation process indicated that collaboration, adopting process technology and R+D public support programmes are most often rated as 'crucial' by innovative companies. However, public support does not only aim to be crucial, notes the Commission's report. Facilitation of innovation development is also of primary importance. Among firms that benefitted from several public support programmes, training for innovation is considered to be the most valuable programme by those that could benefit from it. Within the EU, Germany is thought to have the most burdensome legislation but is also the country where support for innovation is considered to be the most effective.
The Innobarometer can be accessed at: http: //trendchart.cordis.lu/innobarometer.cfm