EU industrial structure - EU Bookshop - Europa

Chapter III — Drivers of Sector Growth and Competitiveness
‑ Patent statistics are relevant to the extent that innovations can benefit from patents. The first drawback of
this indicator is that certain types of innovation cannot be patented. For example, the patenting of software
innovations is not the same in the EU and in the US. Therefore industry comparison between EU and extra‑EU
countries is not always straightforward. Second, the quality of patents is not assessed. Many companies
may apply for patents for strategic reasons, without bringing actual innovations onto the market or into
production.
‑ Trademark data, as the results of innovation, are a better proxy for organisational and marketing innovations.
‑ The number of publications in a research domain can be a good proxy to represent ideas creation. Nonetheless,
there are difficulties in comparing this type of output across sectors.
‑ New or significantly improved products on the market
On the whole, there are certain innovations, such as organisational ones, that will be very difficult to assess ex‑post
from a qualitative and quantitative point of view.
the link between input and output
Eventually, research and development efforts will lead to an increase in the stock of knowledge. This knowledge
will turn into new applications and new products. An output to input ratio provides a concrete measure of R&D
performance. The ratio of patents to employment in different sectors is used below. The measure is denoted
by PAT1.
Countries follow different practices in their national surveys when it comes to allocating R&D expenditures of large,
multi‑sector enterprises to the different economic sectors. Similar R&D expenditure can be categorised in different
industries across countries.
Output indicators for innovation performance
There are different ways to mark the outcome of innovation, for example by submitting a patent, creating a new
trademark, publishing an article or delivering new products to the market.
‑ Patent statistics are relevant to the extent that innovations can benefit from patents. The first drawback of
this indicator is that certain types of innovation cannot be patented. For example, the patenting of software
innovations is not the same in the EU and in the US. Therefore industry comparison between EU and extra‑EU
countries is not always straightforward. Second, the quality of patents is not assessed. Many companies
may apply for patents for strategic reasons, without bringing actual innovations onto the market or into
production.
‑ Trademark data, as the results of innovation, are a better proxy for organisational and marketing innovations.
‑ The number of publications in a research domain can be a good proxy to represent ideas creation. Nonetheless,
there are difficulties in comparing this type of output across sectors.
‑ New or significantly improved products on the market
On the whole, there are certain innovations, such as organisational ones, that will be very difficult to assess ex‑post
from a qualitative and quantitative point of view.
the link between input and output
Eventually, research and development efforts will lead to an increase in the stock of knowledge. This knowledge
will turn into new applications and new products. An output to input ratio provides a concrete measure of R&D
performance. The ratio of patents to employment in different sectors is used below. The measure is denoted
by PAT1.
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