Innovation

The innovation survey carried out every second year is part of the joint project Community Innovation Survey (CIS) coordinated by Eurostat and made in all EU Member States. The main objective of the innovation survey is to examine the generality of innovation activity by enterprises and to chart the characteristics and measures related to innovation activity. The survey makes use of an EU harmonised data collection questionnaire and uniform definitions and methods. The key concepts of the survey are based on the definitions of OECD and Eurostat (Oslo Manual, Guidelines for collecting and interpreting innovation data, 3rd edition, OECD 2005). The statistics are statutory (Finland's Statistics Act 280/2004) and the regulations of the European Union in part require the collection of the data in question (Decision of the European Parliament and the Council (No 1608/2003/EC) and the Commission’s implementing Regulation (No 1450/2004)). Innovation activity and innovations are prerequisites for economic growth and development, competitiveness and well-being. Research and development (R&D) is a key component of innovation activity, but on the whole innovation activity is a considerably wider concept than R&D. Innovation activity includes a number of activities not belonging to R&D; innovation indicators and statistics describe enterprises' development processes from start to finish, all the way from the information sources of ideas to the generality of the innovations taken into use.