60.3% of enterprises in Greece are innovative

The number of innovative enterprises increased over the period 2016-2018, according to the official statistical survey by EKT.

The percentage of innovative enterprises in Greece for the period 2016-2018 rose to 60.3%, showing an increase of 2.6 percentage points compared to the period 2014-2016, according to preliminary data on innovation in Greek enterprises published by the National Documentation Centre (EKT).

These are the statistics transmitted by EKT to Eurostat in the context of the official European-wide survey on innovation and innovative business activities in the EU (CIS - Community Innovation Survey). In Greece, the survey includes 12,213 enterprises with 10 employees and more, in various sectors of economic activity.

Publication of the indicators is part of the regular production of official statistics for Research, Development and Innovation in Greece, carried out by EKT, as an agent and national authority of the Hellenic Statistical System, in collaboration with the Hellenic Statistical Authority. The publication  'Key Indicators for Innovation in Greek Enterprises 2016-2018 - Preliminary Data' is available (in Greek) at https://metrics.ekt.gr/publications/403.

According to the results of the survey, during the period 2016-2018, 60.3% of enterprises in Greece innovated either in their products or in their business processes. This percentage of innovative enterprises has been on the rise in recent years. In the period 201 6-2018 it increased by 2.6 percentage points compared to the immediately preceding period, 2014-2016, and by 8 percentage points compared to the first reference period of 2010-2012.

Improved performance of Greek enterprises in terms of innovation applied to both Industry and Services. In the industry sector, the percentage of innovative enterprises in the period 2016-2018 was 62.3%, compared to 59.5% in the period 2014-2016, showing an increase of 2.8 percentage points. The highest percentage of innovative enterprises (62.9%) was recorded in Manufacturing. 

In the Services sector, the percentage of innovative enterprises in the period 2016-2018 amounted to 58.9%, compared to 56.5% in the 2014-2016, showing an increase of 2.4 percentage points. The highest percentage of innovative  enterprises (67.1%) was recorded in the 'Information and Communication' sector.

As for the percentage of innovative enterprises per enterprise size class, this rises with increasing enterprise size. Specifically, for the period 2016-2018, it amounted to 58.0% for enterprises with 10-49 employees, 70.4% for enterprises with 50-249 employees and  87.3% for enterprises with more than 250 employees. It is noteworthy that in the 2016-2018 period and in relation to the previous three years 2014-2016, there was an increase in the percentage of innovative enterprises in all sizes. Particularly important is the increase in product innovation. In the period 2016-2018, the percentage of enterprises in Greece with product innovation amounted to 42.5%, compared to 30.7% in the period 2014-2016 , showing an increase of 11.8 percentage points. Compared to the first reference period of 2010-2012, this percentage is more than double.

Enterprises recorded high performance in business process innovation, the new type of innovation introduced by the Oslo manual. More specifically, in the period 2016-2018, 55.2% of enterprises implemented new or improved processes in business operations such as the production of goods and services, logistics, financial management, IT applications, work organisation and marketing.

Finally, the percentage of enterprises that collaborated with other enterprises or organisations for the implementation of innovative activities amounted to 20.8%. The degree of co-operation increased with the size of the enterprise.  59.2% of large enterprises developed innovative partnerships  compared to 18.2% of small enterprises and 31.2% of medium-sized enterprises.

The survey followed the methodological guidelines of the new revised Oslo Manual 2018, 'Guidelines for collecting, reporting and using data on Innovation', a joint edition of Eurostat and the OECD. The new Oslo Handbook has introduced significant cuts in the conceptual framework and measurement of innovation which apply to CIS surveys from 2016-2018 onwards.

The new version of the Oslo manual has undergone significant changes in the definitions of innovation types. There are now two types of innovation: innovations that change the enterprise's products (product innovations) and innovations that change the business processes of the enterprise (innovations of business processes). Products include the enterprise's goods and services, or a combination of these. Operating procedures include all the core business activities of the enterprise involved in the production of products and all other support activities. The new type 'innovation of business processes ' partially but not absolutely replaces the previously valid types: process innovation, organisational innovation and marketing innovation.

The statistics and indicators for Research, Development and Innovation in Greece, which are produced and published by EKT, are transmitted on a regular basis to Eurostat and the OECD. Analysis of the data and the relevant indicators is published in printed and electronic publications of EKT and are available on its website http://metrics.ekt.gr/en.