Disproportions in the level of innovation in European Union countries
Authors:   University of Agriculture in Krakow, Zioło Monika , Luty Lidia ,   University of Agriculture in Krakow
Published: February 2023

Purpose: One of the most important areas of reflection on innovation and innovativeness is regional policy and issues related to the development of the economy. The phenomena of globalisation and pressure to create a knowledge-based economy means that not only enterprises, but also countries are forced to optimise the use of their potential on a macro, meso or micro scale. For this reason, the issue of innovativeness is connected with particular economic entities and sectors of the economy, with the activity of state, regional and local authorities and the European Union. In the conditions of deepening European integration, stimulating innovation of territorial socio-economic systems is an important instrument of economic policy at the international, national and regional levels. The aim of the study is to assess the level of innovativeness of the region in spatial and dynamic terms. Multivariate Statistical Analysis will be used to determine the aggregated indicator based on data taken from Eurostat database. Design/methodology/approach: The implementation of the objective will be achieved through the evaluation and comparison of the level of innovativeness of EU countries with the use of a synthetic measure, estimated by using one of the model methods of linear ordering of objects in the years 2015, 2018 and 2021. In the proposed method, the synthetic measure is determined using the distance of the examined objects from the model objects. The dynamic approach will allow to determine the directions of changes. The level of innovation of regions (EU countries) determined by a number of indicators that were adopted in four areas: human capital, finance, business activity and intellectual property protection. Findings: The region's innovativeness is a multidimensional phenomenon, which is directly unmeasurable, hence the need to use statistical methods when measuring it. Obtained results will allow to assess the studied phenomenon, build a ranking and identify countries with a high, medium or low level of innovation. The results of the analyses confirmed that it is advisable to consider innovation by plane, because in this case there is a greater differentiation of countries. Due to the level of innovation, the highest positions in the ranking were taken by Sweden, Germany, Finland and Austria, at the end of the ranking were countries from Central and Eastern Europe, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania. In the area of innovative activities, Estonia ranked very high being classified in the group I of the most innovative countries. The country is characterized by high employment in innovative enterprises, significant expenditure on innovation and a large share of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) introducing product innovations. The fact that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are reducing the distance to more innovative EU countries should be assessed positively, as evidenced by lower values of the coefficients of variation in 2021 compared to 2015. Keywords: innovation of regions, dynamics, Multivariate Statistical Analysis. Category of the paper: research paper.