Innovation Indicators and the Innovation Process - Evidence from the European Innovation Scoreboard

The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence of specific innovation indicators on the overall innovation process. In this sense, a quantitative methodological approach has been employed and data has been analysed using IBM SPSS version 24. Innovation is one the themes of considerable interest at worldwide and at European level, this being reflected by the 2020 European innovation indicator. Innovation is considered to generate economic growth and create competitive advantage for both large organizations and small and medium enterprises, thus being examined as a factor that influences overall business efficiency. In this sense, the data used for this research contains the information published in the European Innovation Indicator Scoreboard 2020 database. In this regard, two innovation indicators have been considered for analysis, namely firm investments and employment impact. An exploratory factor and correlation analysis have been performed in SPSS in order to provide an answer to the research question: "How do firm investments and employment impacts influence the overall Summary Innovation Index?". The findings show that there is a positive correlation between the selected innovation indicators, namely firm investments and employment impact and the overall summary innovation index. These findings reveal a strong correlation between firm investments and the innovation process, which results into guidance for companies and their innovative efforts. In this sense, this paper further provides recommendations for firms on where to channel and focus their efforts in order to create more innovative products and activities.