Report: Romanian companies among the least innovative in Europe

According to a report from Romania’s National Institute of Statistics, during the period 2020-2022, the proportion of Romanian companies that introduced new or improved products or business processes into the market was 8.8%, a decrease of 1.9% compared to 2018-2020.

Business innovation refers to the wide range of activities that enterprises 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 enterprises in the EU reported some form of innovation.

The report, cited by HotNews, notes that 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%). On the other hand, the lowest innovation activity was observed in Romania, Latvia (32%), Hungary and Spain (both 33%), and Poland (35%).

As in the period 2018-2020, during 2020-2022, overall, large enterprises with at least 250 employees were twice as innovative as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Out of the total number of large enterprises, 20.6% were innovative, while SMEs innovated at a rate of 8.3%.

However, compared to the period 2018-2020, the share of large innovative enterprises decreased by 2.0 percentage points, while SMEs showed the same downward trend, with a decrease of 1.8 percentage points.

Of the total enterprises, 4.1% were innovative only in 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 by 0.1% (from 5.0% to 5.1%) in the period 2020-2022.

In the period 2020-2022, innovative enterprises cooperated more among themselves (37.1%), compared to the period 2018-2020 (31.3%). However, in terms of types of cooperation partners, relative to the total number of innovative enterprises, the largest increases were seen in cooperation with non-profit organizations (+3.8%), with other enterprises within the group (+2.8%), with competitors (+2.7%) and with clients or buyers from the public sector (+2.7%).

(Photo source: Flynt |