Romania remains in the last place in terms of companies that bring new products to the market or that innovate the business model

In the period 2020-2022, the share of Romanian companies that introduced new or improved products or business processes to the market was 8.8%, which represents a decrease of 1.9 percentage points compared to the period 2018-2020, of sent to the National Institute of Statistics on Monday. Romania continues to be in last place in the EU from this point of view. The best placed European states in terms of innovation efforts are the Greeks, Belgians and Germans, who understand how important it is to innovate in order to stay relevant in business.

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 the 2020-2022 period compared to the 2018-2020 period by two percentage points;

• Enterprises in services have innovated more than those in industry;

• 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 the period 2020-2022 compared to the period 2018-2020.

BIG COMPANIES ARE MORE INNOVATIVE THAN SMEs

As in 2018-2020, in 2020-2022, overall, 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 innovators, while SMEs innovated 8.3%.

However, compared to the period 2018-2020, the share of large innovative enterprises decreased by 2.0 percentage points, from 22.6% to 20.6%, and innovative SMEs had the same downward trend, by 1, 8 percentage points, respectively from 10.1% to 8.3%.

MORE INNOVATIVE PRODUCT COMPANIES

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%).

LESS “NEW TO THE MARKET” PRODUCTS AND MORE “NEW TO THE BUSINESS” PRODUCTS

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 the period 2018-2020.

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 slightly decreased for medium-sized enterprises, by 0.1 percentage points, in the period 2020-2022 compared to the period 2018-2020.

INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISES COOPERATED MORE WITH THEMSELVES IN THE PERIOD 2020-2022

In the period 2020-2022, innovative enterprises cooperated more with each other (37.1%), compared to the period 2018-2020 (31.3%). By types of cooperation partners, relative to the total number of innovative enterprises, the biggest increase was reported in cooperation with non-profit organizations (+3.8 percentage points), with other enterprises within the group (+2.8 percentage points) ), with competitors (+2.7 percentage points) and with customers or buyers from the public sector (+2.7 percentage points).