Three-quarters of plants now use the Internet for information gathering. Two fifths of plants use the Internet for advertising or promotional activity. A tenth of plants use the Internet for on-line selling. Over the same period plants in the Republic of Ireland made an average of 30 product changes compared to an average of 17 in Northern Ireland. Levels of innovation activity in Northern Ireland manufacturing plants lag below those in the Republic of Ireland.
Innovative firms grow their sales faster and provide more jobs than non-innovators.
This report marks the beginning of a programme of inter-regional comparisons of innovation activity. Czech Welsh Danish German Eston. Greek English Spanish Esper. Italian Latvian Lithua. Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech.