Towards Knowledge Driven Individual Integrated Indicators of Innovativeness

Introduction

Innovativeness of the enterprises is a key factor for the development of a national economy and for preserving its competitiveness. Governments spend a lot of efforts in developing, organizing and then implementing national innovation systems. Proper functioning of such systems requires a lot of information to be gathered. The situation has to be constantly monitored as innovation is an inherently dynamic phenomenon. Many problems have to be addressed, both at the methodological as well as statistical level. In this paper, a Polish programme of the use of micro-data for a multidimensional evaluation of corporate innovativeness is shown as a base for the improvement of communication among various stakeholders of the National Innovation System. The system covers the whole spectrum of the companies in terms of, e.g., their size, ownership and scope of activities. Thus, in particular, micro-companies, SMEs, and large as well as international corporations are well represented.

Though the paper is concerned with innovativeness at the national level, along the basic lines given in, for instance, (Archibugi, Howells & Michie, 1999), many papers in (Llerena & Matt, 2004), (Malerba & Brusoni 2007) or (Malerba & Cantner, 2007), similar issues and solutions may be found in the regional context (cf. papers in Baraczyk, Cook & Heidenreich, 1996, or Howells, 2005), or in a sectoral context (cf. Malerba, 2004). Clearly, specific features of Poland have been reflected taking into account analyses given in Baczko (2007a; 2007b; 2008; 2009a). The paper is in the framework related to the future science and technology and innovation indicators, and the challenges implied (Baczko, 2009b).

A characteristic feature of the system proposed is the use of public indicators of innovativeness which have been elaborated specifically for its purposes. This means a shift in the paradigm of public statistics. Namely, a classical statistical yearbook with averages is proposed to be supplemented with a new system of public indicators which can be used at the national and international level. This is in line with the recommendations of the Frascati Manual (OECD, 2003) and the Oslo Manual (OECD, 2005), and international statistical standards according to which these indicators can be easily adjusted to specific requirements of different countries and regions. This system covers many aspects, including market and process innovativeness, research and development expenditures, and the intellectual property rights as well as networking capabilities.

The development of the system was undertaken in order to accomplish various goals. The use of publicly available indicators makes the comparison of innovativeness of the companies more fair and objective. Thus, decisions related to fund allocation in public and private organizations may be based on a more sound basis and the risk assessment cost is reduced (Baczko, 2007a; 2007b). Setting clear, verifiable criteria for the assessment of innovativeness makes it possible to produce regular rankings of companies. This stimulates social processes focused on the dissemination of innovativeness patterns, increases the public awareness of importance of this issue and motivates companies to increased efforts. In fact, the results of such annual rankings based on the developed indicators are announced during the highly visible and prestigious Public Galas of Innovativeness. These events provide a perfect opportunity for developing social and information links among stakeholders of the innovativeness process.