Why Do We Need New Innovation Output Indicators? An Introduction

During the 1980s and 1990s, ‘evolutionary’ or ‘Schumpeterian’ issues rose higher on the agenda of social and economic research. The growing interest in the study of innovation and technological change stands in contrast to the availability of adequate statistical data. The provision of data for empirical research is deficient in several respects, one problem being that data collection by statistical agencies tends to be confined to indicators of the ‘input’ side of the innovation process, mainly to R&D. There are attempts in several countries to extend the data collection to non-R&D innovation ‘inputs’. Examples are data on so-called ‘intangible’ investments (e.g. software, marketing or design expenditures), or (heroic) attempts to measure the total innovation expenditures of firms, including a number of non-R&D innovation cost categories (see also Chapter 7 of this book).