Collecting data on innovations

217. Depending on survey objectives and scope, data collection on innovations can take various approaches. A comprehensive approach would cover all four types of innovations equally. Alternatively, product and process innovations might be maintained as the core innovation types but marketing and organisational innovations might be partly covered, or product and process innovations might be the exclusive focus. In addition, one or more types of innovation can be covered in greater detail through specialised surveys.

218. The guidelines presented here and in subsequent chapters outline a number of options for data collection. Clearly, it is not feasible to cover all topics and subtopics in one innovation survey, and surveys must choose the

questions that are deemed most relevant. A limited set of topics which are considered particularly important for innovation surveys are recommended in bold type.

219. Data on each type of innovation can be collected through a single question or through a series of sub-questions on separate subgroups of each type of innovation. The latter option will result in more detailed information on the innovations of each firm. Greater detail on the types of innovations firms have implemented would be very useful for data analysis and interpretation.

220. Information on supplementary factors, such as linkages, innovation objectives and barriers to innovation, can be collected separately for each type of innovation, or for closely related subsets of the four types, such as a combination of product and process innovation. For some supplementary questions, collecting data for all four types of innovation combined can make interpretation of the data more difficult. For example, combining all four types of innovation in questions on linkages would make it very difficult to determine if a specific linkage was used in developing a product, process, marketing or organisational innovation.

221. Length constraints make separate questions on each supplementary factor for each type of innovation somewhat problematic. Taking this into account, Chapters 6 and 7 outline options for supplementary questions: referring to all four types of innovations combined, focusing on product and process innovations, or directing questions at individual types of innovations. Chapter 5 provides guidelines for directing questions on linkages towards all four types (either combined or separately) or to a subset of types, such as product and process innovations. Chapter 6 separates product and process innovation activities from activities for marketing and organisational innovations. Chapter 7 lists objectives, hindering factors and other indicators for each individual type of innovation. These lists can be equally useful for questions that focus solely on a subset of innovations, either those that cover all innovation types, or those that cover individual types of innovations. 222. Innovations spanning more than one type, such as those including both a process and an organisational component, might play an increasingly important role in firm competitiveness and in productivity gains. For example, a restructuring of production operations could involve process, organisational and marketing innovations, or a marketing and organisational innovation could be implemented in order to better profit from a product innovation. 223. One option is to include questions on the connections between different types of innovations. Of particular interest is the link between organisational and process innovations, although connections between other types, such as product and marketing innovations or product and process innovations, can also be of interest.

OSLO MANUAL: GUIDELINES FOR COLLECTING AND INTERPRETING INNOVATION DATA

224. To ensure comparability, surveys must specify an observation period for questions on innovation. It is recommended that the length of the

observation period for innovation surveys should not exceed three years or be less than one year. Factors influencing the choice of the length of the

observation period are discussed in Chapter 8 on survey methods. The same observation period should be used for all questions in an innovation survey, with the exception of a few quantitative indicators that are difficult to collect and should therefore refer to the most recent year of the observation period, the reference year.

225. The concept of novelty is in principle applicable to all four types of innovations, possibly to differing degrees. Questions on novelty are likely to be easiest to answer for product innovations. Firms may find questions on the novelty of process innovations more difficult, as they may lack full knowledge of other firms’ production and delivery methods. The concept of novelty is applicable for most marketing innovations (such as new methods in contracting, product placement and product promotion), though less relevant for new concepts of product design. For organisational innovation, some new organisational methods may be specific to an individual firm, thereby complicating comparison with other firms, and firms may lack information on whether certain organisational methods have already been applied by other firms.

226. It is recommended that innovation surveys ask whether any product innovations introduced during the observation period were new to the market. Innovation surveys can also collect data on new to the market process

innovations. An additional option is to ask whether these types of innovations were new to the world.

Notes

1. In this chapter, the generic term, “the firm”, is used. The primary statistical unit for collecting data, which in general is the enterprise, is discussed in Chapter 4. In particular, the question of what is “new to the firm” becomes more complicated when considering large enterprise groups or multinational enterprises. These issues will be considered in Chapter 4.

2. A routine upgrade involves minor changes to a good or service that are expected and planned for in advance. The development of the upgrade is also based on routine, well-established activities. For example, anti-virus software is purchased with the expectation of frequent upgrades to cover the appearance of new viruses. A hotel chain will construct new hotels with the expectation that furnishings, lamps and bathroom fixtures will be upgraded on a regular basis, even though this may be on a 10- or 20-year cycle.

3. By “firm” is meant, the statistical unit for which data is compiled, which in general is the enterprise. New to the firm thus implies new to the statistical unit.

ISBN 92-64-01308-3

Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data

© OECD/European Communities 2005