Interim report according to Article 8 of the Council Decision (94/78/CE, Euratom) establishing a multiannual programme for the development of Community statistics on research, development and innovation
Date: 1996-02-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, EU statistics, innovation, research and development, statistical method

COMMISSION  OF THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  14.02.1996 
COM(96)  42  final 

Interim  report according to Article 8 of the Council  Decision 
(94/78/CE, Euratom) establishing a multiannual  programme 
for the development of Community statistics on 
research, development and  innovation 

(presented  by  the  Commission) 

Lists  of  Contents 

0. 

Summary 

1. 
1.1 
1.2 

1.3 

2. 
2.1 
2.2 
2.2.1 
2.2.2 
2.2.3 
2.2.4 
2.2.5 
2.2.6 
2.3 
2.4 

3. 
3.1 
3.2 

Introduction 
Aim and structure of this report 
Brief summary of the political background  and the  programme's 
statistical  antecedents 
Organization  of work 

Implementation of the action plan 
Objectives  and conditions 
Present situation 
Analysis and evaluation of user demand 
Improvement  of the existing methodological  framework 
Identification  of the existing statistical  information 
Setting up a European statistical  information  system 
Pilot surveys 
Development of basic statistical tools 
Successes and gaps 
Human Resources 

Proposals for future  actions 
Proposals for the second half of the programme 
Proposals for the period after  completion  of-the programme 

4. 

General conclusions 

ANNEX  I:  Council Decision of 24 January  1994 establishing a multiannual  programme 
for^the development of Community  statistics on research,  development 
and innovation 

ANNEX II:  Detailed Analyses of User Needs for Community  Statistics on Research, 

Development  and Innovation 

Summary of findings  from  national  reports 
Background 
General findings 
Indicators on R&D inputs 
Indicators on R&D outputs 
Indicators on R&D impact 
Innovation  indicators 
Other R&D and innovation  indicators 
Other related  indicators 

1 
2 
2.1 
2.2 
2.3 
2.4 
2.5 
2.6 

'age 

3 

4 
4 

5 
6 

7 
7 
9 
9 
12 
13 
14 
17 
18 
20 
20 

21 
21 
22 

23 

24 

30 

31 
31 
31 
32 
33 
33 
34 
34 
34 

Details  from  national reports 
R&D input  indicators 
R&D output  and impact indicators 
Innovation  indicators 
HRST indicators 
Regional  indicators 
Other indicators 

1.3 
1.3.1 
1.3.2 
1.3.3 
1.3.4 
1.3.5 
1.3.6 

2. 

• 

Results of the survey on needs for R&D and innovation  statistics 
in Commission departments 
Approach 
Analysis of the responses 
Analysis of results 
Groups of indicators deemed  essential for the present 
The level of disaggregation required by the Commission's  users 
Groups of indicators deemed essential for the future 

2.1 
2.2 
2.3 
2.3.1 
2.3.2 
2.3.3 
2.3.4  Need  for new indicators 
2.3.5 
2.3.6 

Updated  data and forecasts 
Technical  facilities 

3. 

Conclusions  for development  of R&D and innovation  indicators 
in the Commission 

* 

35 
35 
37 
38 
39 
40 
41 

43 
43 
43 
44 
44 
45 
45 
46 
46 
46 

47 

• 

ANNEX  III:  Statistical  Information  on R&D and Innovation Available in the Member  States 

of the European Economic Area (and Switzerland): 
Executive  Summary of the Final Report 

48 

ANNEX  IV:  First considerations  about a future  legal basis for regular R&D and  innovation 
52 

surveys in the European Union 

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 

Reasoning  for  a legal framework 
Extension  of the scope 
Problems to be solved 
Implications of the legal framework  for the Member States 
Some other questions 

- 

53 
53 
54 
55 
55 

0. 

S u m m a ry 

On  24  January  1994  a  Council  Decision  establishing  a  multiannual  programme  lor  the 
development  of  Community  statistics  on  research,  development  and  innovation  (94/78/EC, 
Euratom)  was  adopted.  Article  8(a)  of  this  Decision  stipulates  that  an  interim  report  must  be 
presented  by  the  Commission  during  1995. 

The  Commission  holds  the  view  that  in  1995 an  overall  positive  assessment  can  be  made.  The 
Commission  has  either  already  completed  or  at  least  begun  all  the  tasks  listed  in  Article  4. 
The  analysis  and  evaluation  of  user  demand  has  already  been  carried  out  lor  the  main, 
the  existing 
although  not  all,  user  groups.  Great  efforts  have  been  made  to  improve 
methodological  framework,  some  of which  have  already  been  successfully  completed  (manual 
on  human  resources  for  science  and  technology  (HRST),  manual  on  the  regional  dimension  of 
R&D  and  innovation  indicators).  The  statistical  information  available  in  the  Member  States 
has  also  been  identified,  as  required  by  the  Decision.  The  setting-up  of  a  European  statistical 
information  system  is  relatively  far  advanced.  Data  are  currently  available  on  public  R&D 
financing,  R&D  personnel,  R&D  expenditure,  patents  and  innovation.  These  data  are  further 
sub-divided  according  to  specific  characteristics,  whereby  particular  importance  is  attached  to 
the  regional  aspect.  In  the  field  of  innovation  statistics,  pilot  surveys  have  been  used  to  test 
new  data  collection  measures.  Lastly,  various  parts  of  a  set  of  basic  statistical  tools  have 
already  been  developed  and  practically  applied,  e.g.  for  the  processing  of 
transmitted 
information.  In  carrying  out  all  these  activities,  the  Commission  has  complied  strictly  with 
general  (e.g.  subsidiarity)  and  programme-specific  conditions  (e.g.  close  cooperation  with  the 
OECD,  the  Member  States  and  other  users).  The  Commission,  and  particularly  Eurostat,  can 
now  be  regarded  as  one  of the world's  leading  institutions  in the  field  of  statistics  on  R&D  and 
innovation. 

The  positive  overall  assessment  about  two  years  into  the  programme  should  not  conceal  the 
fact  that  many  problems  remain  unsolved  and  there  is  still  a  long  way  to  go  before  all  the 
tasks  imposed  by  the  Decision  are  completed.  There  are  still  gaps  particularly  in  the  analysis 
of  the  needs  of  main  user  groups  such  as  the  European  Parliament,  in  the  acquisition  of  data 
on,  for  example,  private  R&D  funding,  output  and  regional  indicators  and  HRST,  or  in  the  use 
of  registers  and  electronic  interchange  techniques.  More  weight  should  also  be  attached  to  the 
analysis  of  the  existing  data,  and  the  efforts  to  further  harmonize  the  available  data  should  be 
stepped  upr^ 

In  the  second  half  of  the  programme,  the  Commission  will  concentrate  on  specific  areas  in 
order  to  eliminate  these  gaps.  New  activities  are  only  planned  if  they  conclude  or  supplement 
work  already  under  way.  Among  such  new  activities  are  the  development  and  provision  of 
indicators  to  describe  the  R&D  and  innovation  programmes  set  up  by  the  Commission. 

Work  has  been  going  on  in  some  fields  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  for  more  than  20 
years.  Despite  all  efforts,  large  discrepancies  in  the  national  methodologies  remain  which 
make  comparisons  of  figures  at  least  sometimes  difficult  if  not  impossible.  Therefore,  the 
Commission 
is  very  much  in  favour  of  a  new  legislation  to  strengthen  the  process  ot 
harmonization  in  the  field  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics. 

The  Commission  asks  the  Council  to  take  positive  note of  this  interim  report. 

1. 

Introduction 

1.1 

Aim  and  structure  of this  report 

In  order  to  develop  and  implement  a  European  statistical  information  system  for  research, 
development  and innovation, the Council adopted  Decision  94/78/EC, Euratom, establishing a 
multiannual  programme  for  the  development  of  Community  statistics  on  these  fields  on 
24 January  1994 (the text of the Council Decision is reproduced  in annex I). 

The  objectives  of  the  programme,  which  are  contained  in  Article  3  of  the  Decision,  are  as 
follows: 

a) 

b) 

c) 

to  set  out  a  Community  reference  framework  for  statistics  on  research,  development 
and  innovation  defining  the most appropriate concepts and methods for  supporting  the 
corresponding  Community  policies,  and  for  satisfying  the  needs  of  national,  regional 
and 
economic  operators, 
professional  associations and the general public; 

international  organizations, 

administrations, 

local 

to establish  a Community  statistical  information  system  for research, development  and 
innovation; 

to  promote  and  support  harmonization  of  statistics  on  research,  development  and 
innovation  in the Member States; 

d) 

to facilitate  the dissemination  of comparable  information. 

Article  8 (a)  of  the  Decision  states:  "The  Commission  shall  present  an  interim  report  to  the 
Council  in  1995, accompanied  if necessary  by proposals  it considers  appropriate,  particularly 
on  the  methodological  framework  referred  to  in Article  4 (b) and  on the  implementation  of a 
system  based  on  that  methodology,  for  the  regular  collection  of  harmonized  statistics  on 
research,  development  and  innovation,  as  well  as  to  cover  the  requirements  of  Community 
policy  on  RTD  and  innovation  and  the  requirement  for  regional  data  to  aid  structural 
policies". 

The  present  document  constitutes  the  interim  report  referred  to  above.  It  is  structured  as 
follows.  After  this  introduction,  which  outlines  the  objective  of the  report  and  describes  the 
political,  legal  and  constitutional  background  to  the  programme  and  the  organizational 
structure  of  its  implementation,  the  report  sets  out  the  achievements  of  the  two  years  which 
have  passed  since  the  Decision  was  adopted.  This  main  chapter  2 is  structured  according  to 
the  tasks  as described  in the  Council  Decision.  It tackles  the  topics  "analysis  and  evaluation 
of user demand",  "improvement  of the existing methodological  framework",  "identification  of 
the existing  statistical  information",  "setting up of a European  statistical  information  system", 
"pilot  surveys"  and  "development  of  basic  statistical  tools".  The  Commission  formulates  a 
number of proposals  in Chapter 3.  The report ends with some general  conclusions. 

1.2 

Brief  summary  of  the  political  background  and 
statistical  antecedents 

the  programme's 

The  Treaty  on  European  Union  states  that  the  Community  shall  have  the  objective  of 
strengthening  the competitiveness  of  its  industry  and  encouraging  research  and  technological 
development.  In  order  to  design,  implement,  monitor  and  evaluate  policies  in  this  field,  the 
European  Union  must  have  statistical  information  at  its  disposal.  The  4th  framework 
programme  of  Community  activities  in  the  field  of  research  and  technological  development 
(1994-98), the management  of the structural  funds,  the promotion  of technological  innovation 
and  the  coordination  of  national  R&D  policies  are  examples  of  programmes  which  require 
statistical  information  providing  a sound  basis  for  comparison  between  Member  States,  their 
regions and between the European Union and its trading partners. 

On 22 July  1993, the Council adopted Decision 93/464/EEC on the framework  programme  for 
priority  actions  in  the  field  of  statistical  information  1993  to  1997,  which  it  intended  as  a 
response  to  the  demand  for  statistical  information  in  general.  Decision  94/78/EC,  Euratom 
focuses  more particularly on statistics relating to research, development  and innovation, and is 
part of the overall framework  defined  in Decision 93/464. 

The  Commission  has  a  long  history  of  compiling  statistics  on  research,  development  and 
innovation.  It has been collecting  information  on the public funding  of research  in the EU  for 
more  than  25  years.  At  the  end  of  the  1980s,  the  Scientific  and  Technical  Research 
Committee  (CREST)  drew  the  Commission's  attention  to  certain  weaknesses  in  Community 
R&D statistics.  Eurostat responded by taking measures in a number of areas: 

revision  of  the Nomenclature  for  the  analysis  and  comparison  of  science  budgets  and 
programmes (NABS); 

the régionalisation of certain indicators; 

information  on human resources in the field  of science and technology; 

information  on technological  innovation. 

Since  the—adoption  of  Decision  94/78,  other  improvements  (described  later  on  in  this 
document)  have  been  made  to  the  Community  information  system  on  research,  development 
and  innovation.  These  include  new  methodological  developments,  new  analyses,  and  the 
publication of a European report on science and technology  indicators ( 1994). 

In the  light  of the  results  of  the  above  measures  and  a systematic  analysis  of  user  needs,  the 
present  document  formulates  new  proposals  which  it  is  hoped  will  help  to  strengthen  the 
existing  system. 

1.3 

Organization  of  work 

to 

The  programme  can  only  be  implemented  successfully 
if  the  Commission  department 
responsible  for  carrying  it out  cooperates  extremely  closely  with  all  the  parties  involved  inside 
and  outside  the  Commission.  So  far  this  principle  has  been  strictly  adhered  to.  All  the 
activities  to  date  have  been  carried  out  in  close  cooperation  with  the  Member  States  of  the 
European  Economic  Area,  other  countries,  international  organizations  and  other  Commission 
departments. 

The  Member  States  of the  European  Economic  Area  have  been  kept  permanently  up  to 
date  on  the  Commission's  activities.  The  organisational  framework  for  this  is  the 
Working  Party  on  R&D  and  Innovation  Statistics  of  the  Statistical  Office  of  the 
European  Communities  (Eurostat),  which  meets  at  least  once  a  year.  The  discussions 
in  the  working  party  meetings  are  supplemented  by  bilateral  contacts,  nqHeast  in  the 
context  of  meetings  of  international  organisations  attended  by  Eurostat  (see  below). 
On  the  whole,  the  relationship  with  the  (representatives  of  the)  Member  States,  in 
official  and  non-official  statistical  circles alike, can  only  be  described  as  excellent.  The 
success  of  the  programme  so  far  is  also  due  to  the  extremely  successful  cooperation 
In  all  activities,  the  principle  of  subsidiarity  has  been 
with  the  Member  States. 
respected. 

One  of  the  main  aspects  of  the  programme  is  the  provision  of  comparable  data  not 
only  for  the  Member  States  of  the  European  Economic  Area  but  also  for  other 
countries,  particularly  the  main  trading  partners  of  the  European  Union  such  as  the 
United  States  of  America  and  Canada  and  other  European  countries  such  as 
Switzerland  or  the  countries  of  Central  and  Eastern  Europe,  including  those  of  the 
former  USSR.  This  means  that  the  activities  also  have  to  be  coordinated  with  these 
countries,  whether  under  the  aegis  of  international  organisations  like  the  OECD  or 
bilaterally.  Remarkable  successes  have  been  achieved 
this  connection  also. 
Agreement  has  been  reached  with  major  OECD  countries  outside  the  European 
Economic  Area  (United  States,  Canada  and  Australia)  on  a  regular  exchange  of 
documents  of  meetings  such  as  Eurostat  working  party  meetings.  Switzerland  and 
some  of  the  countries  of  Central  and  Eastern  Europe,  including  Russia,  attend  the 
working  party  meetings  more  or  less regularly  as  observers.  In  addition,  a joint  project 
has  been  launched  with  Russia  under the Commission's  TACIS  Programme.  Its  aim  is 
to  align  the  system  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  inherited  from  the.USSR  with 
Western  standards  without,  however,  completely  disregarding  the  special  features  of 
the  Russian  system.  This  project  has  so  far  proved  very  successful.  In  addition  to 
intensive  discussions  on  methodology,  several  pilot  surveys  have  already  been  earned 
out  by  Russia  with  the  Commission's  assistance,  e.g.  with  regard  to  public  R&D 
funding  or  innovation,  on  the  basis  of  the  Western  methodology,  in  particular  that 
developed  by  Eurostat. 

in 

During  the  preparation  of  the  programme  some  Member  States  expressed  the  concern 
that  it  might 
in  practice  overlap  certain  activities  of  international  organisations, 
particularly  the  OECD,  one  of  the  results  of  which  would  be  additional  burdens  on  the 
Member  States.  Experience  so  far  has  no  doubt  shown  that  these  misgivings  were 
unfounded  -  on  the  contrary,  relations  between  the  Commission  and  the  OECD  and 
other  international  organisations  like  UNESCO,  the  Nordic  Council  or  the  EFTA 
Secretariat  in  the  field  of  statistics  on  R&D  and  innovation  have  never  been  better,  and 

to  areas 

relate  either 

the  activities  have  never  been  better  coordinated  than  now. This  is  evidenced  by  hard 
tacts.  The  Commission's  activities  basically 
in  which 
organisations  like the OECD are not (at present)  interested  (e.g. regional  indicators)  or 
to areas  in which  the Commission  cooperates practically  with  these  organisations  (e.g. 
human  resources  for  science  and  technology,  innovation).  This  gives  rise  to  joint 
actions,  for  example  between  the  OECD  and  Eurostat,  such  as  the  drafting  of  the 
methodological  manual  for  measuring  HRST, which  has  been  published jointly  by the 
OECD  and  Eurostat  and  is  thus  the  first  ever  joint  publication  in  the  history  of 
international  R&D statistics. International  organisations  also actively  participate  in the 
meetings  of Eurostat  working  parties, just  as Eurostat  plays an active  role  in  meetings 
of  these  organisations,  e.g.  meetings  of  the  OECD's  Group  of  National  Experts  on 
Science and Technology  Indicators (NESTI). 

The  fourth  group  of  partners  in  the  implementation  of  the  programme  is  made  up  of 
the  other  Commission  departments  for  which  statistics  on  R&D  and  innovation  are 
important  in one way  or another.  Directorates-General  XII, XIII  and  XVI  are  obvious 
cases  in point,  but the analysis  of user needs (see  section  2.2.1  below)  has  shown  that 
there  is  demand  for  statistics  on  R&D  and  innovation  in  quite  a  number  of  other 
Directorates-General.  Furthermore,  an  aspect  which  has  always  been  and  still  is 
particularly  important  is cooperation  within  Eurostat.  whether  in business, regional  or 
education  statistics,  classifications  or  other  fields.  As  has  already  been  done  with  the 
Member  States  of  the  European  Economic  Area,  relations  with  users  within  the 
Commission  have also  been formalised.  To this end, regular  meetings  of the  group  of 
users  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  in  the  Commission  (GUS-REDIS  as  a  sub 
group of the CDIS) are held, usually  in the context  of working party  meetings with the 
Member  States.  The  agendas  of  both  groups  are  largely  the  same,  so  that  the  other 
Commission  departments  are as well  informed  as the  Member  States. It  goes  without 
saying  that  interested  colleagues  from  other  departments  can  attend  working  party 
meetings  with  the  Member  States  at  any  time, and  many  of  them  avail  themselves  of 
this opportunity. 

2. 

Implementation  of  the  action  plan 

2.1 

Objectives  and  conditions 

The  objectives  of  the  programme  and  the  work  to  be  carried  out  by  the  Commission  to 
achieve  them  are  clearly  laid  down  in  the  Council  Decision  in  Articles  3  (objectives;  see 
section  1.1  of this interim report for details) and 4 (tasks). The specific  work to be "carried  out 
by  the  Commission,  in  cooperation  with  the  Member  States"  (Article  4,  first  sentence)  is  as 
follows: 

"a) 

analysis  and  evaluation  of  user  demand,  subject  to  its  feasibility  and  based  on  cost 
efficiency, 
in  order  to  define  actions  and  priorities,  for  statistics  on  research, 
development  and  innovation; 

b) 

improvement, where necessary, of the existing methodological  framework; 

c) 

d) 

e) 

f) 

identification  of  existing  statistical 
innovation; 

information  on  research,  development  and 

setting  up  the  organisational  and  technical  components  of  a  Community  statistical 
information  system  for  research,  development  and  innovation,  including  statistics  of 
Community-funded  research  and  development  activities; 

carrying  out  pilot  surveys; 

developing  basic  statistical  tools." (Article  4, first  sentence). 

Details  of  this  work  are  given  in  an  action  plan  contained  in  the  annex  to  the  Council 
Decision. 

The  individual  actions  carried  out  so  far  are  described  in  detail  in  section  2.2  of  this  interim 
report  below.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that,  although  originally  intended  to  cover  the  period 
1993  to  1997,  the  programme  did  not  come  into  effect  until  24 January  1994.  so  that  it  has 
been  running  for  only  just  under  two  years.  Since  it  has  taken  a  few  months  to  draft  this 
interim  report  itself,  it  can  only  describe  the  situation  after  the  first  one  and  a  half  years.  It 
should  also  be  mentioned,  however,  that  all  the  Member  States,  in  anticipation  of  the  Council 
Decision,  cooperated  actively  in  the  Commission's  preliminary  work  even  before  the  Council 
formally  adopted  the  Decision,  and  the  results  achieved  at  that  preliminary  stage  are  covered 
in this  report. 

All  the  activities  have  been  carried  out  subject  to  specific  overall  conditions,  some  of  which 
are  specified  in  the  Council  Decision  itself  and  some  of  which  are  implicit  in  the  system.  The 
second  sentence  of  Article  4  of  Council  Decision  94/78/EC  stipulates  that  "the  Commission 
shall  make  use  of  existing  sources  of  information,  instruments  and  procedures,  including  the 
work  and  existing  data  of  the  OECD,  UNESCO  and  other  international  organisations".  This 
condition  means  that  existing  instruments  and  procedures  are  not  to  be  developed  again  and 
that  data  already  available  elsewhere  are  not  to  be  collected  again.  In  its  activities  so  far, 
Eurostat  has  adhered  strictly  to  this  requirement.  Wherever  the  necessary  methodology  was 
already  available  at  international  level,  it  was  used  as  a  basis  for  all  the  actions.  Examples  of 
this  are  the  Frascati  and  Oslo  Manuals  drawn  up  by  the  OECD. which  were  used  as  a basis  for 
both  developing  the  regional  indicators  and  carrying  out  the  pilot  survey  on  technological 
innovation.  Nor  were  the  Member  States  asked  to  provide  any  data  that  were  already 
in  recent  years  were  not 
available.  All 
internationally  available  in this  form. 

the  data  requested  from 

the  Member  States 

In  addition  to  these  conditions  specific  to  this  programme,  all  the  activities  carried  out  so  far 
under  this  programme  have  been  based  on  other,  general  conditions  like  the  principle  of 
subsidiarity,  the  principle  of  minimising  the  burden  on  respondents  and  the  principle  of 
catering  for  the  user.  All  actions  so  far  have  been  coordinated  with  the  Member  States.  Each 
year,  during  the  working  party  meetings,  Eurostat  has  presented  the  Member  States  with,  for 
example,  a  detailed  work  programme  for  statistics  on  R&D  and  innovation,  on  which  the 
Member  States  were  able  to  give  their  opinion  in  the  ensuing  discussion.  In  addition,  the 
programme  of  work  was  coordinated  at  the  ECE  level.  The  few  pilot  surveys  carried  out  so 
far  have  also  complied  strictly  with  the  principle  of  subsidiarity.  For  example,  the  national 
innovation  surveys  carried  out  by  the  Member  States  on  their  own  account  were  preceded  by 
detailed  methodological  consultations  in order  not  only  to  ensure  the  comparability  of  most  of 

the  subsequent  results  but  also  to  allow  sufficient  scope  for  specific  national  features,  e.g. 
regarding  the traditional  survey procedures used. 

With  regard  to the burden on respondents in pilot surveys, it should  be stated  at the outset  that 
the  only  major  pilot  study  to  be  proposed  and  carried  out  was  the  study  on  technological 
innovation.  It  is not  disputed  that both the size of the questionnaire  and the number  of  survey 
units  placed  to  some  extent  a  considerable  burden  on  the  respondents.  At  the  same  time, 
however,  it  should  be  pointed  out  that  in  some  cases  specific  national  factors  (inclusion  of 
additional  questions  in  the  harmonised  questionnaire,  conducting  of  full  surveys)  further 
increased this burden. All the other actions so far have not led to any excessive burdens on the 
survey units such as enterprises. 

The  main  concern  in  all  the  activities  so  far  has  been  to  meet  as  far  as  possible  the  existing 
needs  of  users.  It  fairly  soon  became  apparent  that  in  some  cases  the  users  themselves  were 
not completely  clear about what their actual requirements were. As a result of the analysis  and 
evaluation  of  user  demand  (see the next  section  of this  interim  report), which  is  stipulated  in 
the programme and has already been carried out, this situation has improved  considerably. 

2.2 

Present  situation 

2.2.1 

Analysis and evaluation of user demand 

Article  4, first  sentence  (a) of the  Council  Decision  stipulates that  the Commission  is to  carry 
out  an analysis  and  evaluation  of user demand. This requirement  is described  in further  detail 
in  section  (a)  of  the  Annex  to  the  Council  Decision  (see  Annex  1),  which  states  that  the 
Commission  is  to  collect  and  analyse  information  on  the  short-  and  long-term  requirements 
"of  the  main  users,  i.e.  the  Community  institutions,  Crest,  the  national,  regional  and  local 
administrations,  international  organisations  and  economic  operators".  So  far  the  necessary 
information  on  the  main,  although  not  all,  users  has  been  collected  and  evaluated.  The 
remarks below refer to the requirements in the Member States and the Commission itself. 

Further  instructions  for  ascertaining  user demand  for  statistics  on R&D  and  innovation  in the 
Member  States  are  given  in  Article  6  of  the  Council  Decision:  "The  Member  States  shall 
ascertain -and  analyse  the  needs  of  the  national  users  for  Community  data  on  research, 
technological  development  and  innovation  statistics  and  transmit  appropriate  information, 
where available, to the Commission  within eight months of the adoption of this Decision.  The 
Commission  shall  coordinate  these  activities."1 
In  accordance  with  these  instructions,  the 
Member  States  and  the  Commission  decided  that  the  Member  States  should  inform  the 
Commission  of  their  requirements  within  the  specified  time  limit  by  means  of  identically 
structured  reports.  There  was  no  agreement  on  how  the  necessary  information  was  to  be 
collected  in  the  Member  States.  This  meant  that  widely  differing  approaches  were  adopted. 
Some  Member  States,  for  example,  carried  out  surveys  of  the  main  national  users,  while 
the  Member  States  of  the 
others  drew  up  the  reports  on  the  basis  of  existing  data.  All 
European  Economic Area, with the exception of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, have 
fulfilled  their  obligation  and  have  sent  reports  of  varying  length  (i.e.  between  five  lines  and 

The  concept  of  "Community  data"  was  very  broadly  interpreted  in  this case. Community  data  are  taken  to 
mean  all  the  date  in  this  field  which  are  used  for  comparisons  between  the  Member  States  or  with  non-
Community  countries, irrespective of who produces these data. 

somewhat over 20 pages), although they did not always adhere to the recommendations  on the 
layout. 

A  different  method  was  chosen  to  ascertain  user  demand  in  the  Commission.  Eurostat 
developed  a special  questionnaire  for  this  purpose  and  sent  it to  all  the  Directorates-General, 
of which a total of 20 (including the Joint Research Centre) replied  including all main users of 
R&D and  innovation  statistics in the Commission. 

Annex II contains  a detailed  description and analysis of user needs in the Commission  and the 
Member  States.  The  results  of  the  analysis  can  be  divided  into  two  groups:  those  relating  to 
R&D and innovation  statistics in general and those related to specific  indicators. 

The  following  general  conclusions  can  be  drawn  from  the  replies  of  the  Member  States  and 
the  Commission: 

General  recognition  of  the  work  which  has  been  carried  out,  and  of  the  results 
achieved, but there is still soon for  improvement. 

Awareness  of the Commission's products in the field  of R&D and  innovation  statistics 
should be  increased. 

The  comparability  of  data  must  be  further  improved  by  further  efforts  to  harmonise 
approaches,  classifications  and  survey  methods.  In  this  connection,  the  close 
cooperation  which  has  been  pursued,  particularly  with  the  OECD,  is  regarded  as 
indispensable. 

For  the  purposes  of  meaningful  analysis,  it  must  be  possible  to  combine  the  existing 
data  on  R&D  and  innovation  activities  with  other  data,  particularly  economic  data. 
The technical  conditions for this must be created, e.g. by creating suitable data banks. 

R&D and innovation data should be regionalised  more than they have been hitherto. 

International  statistics  on  R&D  and  innovation  should .take  more  account  of  the 
increasing  internationalisation  of  R&D  and  innovation  activities,  particularly  by 
multinational  companies (concept of "globalisation"). 

There  is  a  considerable  need  for  information  on  R&D  and  innovation  projects  with 
international  funding.  The  programmes  funded  by  the  Commission  are  particularly 
important  in this connection. 

j 

In  the  long  term,  a  catalogue  of  indicators  should  be  drawn  up  which  is  able  to 
describe  all  the  important  aspects  of  R&D  and  innovation  activities.  Some  of  these 
indicators  should  be  surveyed  annually  (basic  indicators),  while  others  should  be 
surveyed  at  longer  or  irregular  intervals  (supplementary  indicators). This  catalogue  of 
indicators  should  cover both quantitative and qualitative  characteristics. 

The  dissemination  of  existing  information  should  be  considerably  improved,  e.g.  by 
using computer  networks. 

The  available  data  are  often  not  sufficiently  up-to-date.  For  important  indicators, 
therefore,  there  should  at  least  be  estimates  up  to  the  present  and,  for  some  of  them, 
short-term  forecasts. 

In  addition  to  these  general  suggestions,  the  replies  from  the  Member  States  and  the 
Commission  departments  also contain  a number of specific  suggestions  on  individual  (groups 
of)  indicators: 

The  level  of  detail  of  the  available  information  on  input  factors  such  as  R&D 
expenditure  and  R&D  personnel  is  generally  regarded  as  inadequate.  In  particular, 
there  are  proposals  for  additional  breakdowns  by  economic  branch,  scientific  branch 
technology, 
and  special  fields  such  as  civil  research,  environment,  information 
télécommunications and biotechnology. Information  on R&D input  factors  should  also 
be  available  annually.  Lastly,  the  quality  of  this  data,  particularly  in  the  higher 
education  sector, should be improved. 

The present range of data on R&D cooperation  should be considerably  extended. 

Some  Member  States  have  reservations  about  the  usefulness  of  an  over-detailed 
breakdown  by  socio-economic  objective  of  the  public  funds  granted  for  R&D 
purposes.  In their view,  it would  be sufficient  to supply  these  data  at the  highest  level 
of the NABS  classification. 

There  is a basic  lack of information  on the number  of units engaged  in R&D  and  their 
structures.  This  also  applies  to  indicators  on  the  dissemination  of  innovation  and 
information  technologies  and to indicators on alternatives to patents. 

The  collection  and  dissemination  of  R&D  output  indicators  (data  on  patents, 
bibliometric  indicators)  should  be  improved  at  international  level.  Consideration 
should be given to further  output  indicators. 

Further  harmonisation  of  methods  is  suggested  with  regard  to  indicators  on  trade  in 
high-technology  products  and to technological  balance  of payments,  so  that  better  use 
can  be  made  of  these  data  internationally.  Some  services  of  the  Commission  need 
further  indicators for measuring the impact of R&D and  innovation. 

There is considerable  general  interest  in innovation  indicators, which  ideally  should  be 
combined  in one way or another with the collection of R&D indicators so that they  can 
be  jointly  analysed.  Innovation  indicators  should  also  be  provided  for  the  service 
sector. 

Data  on  human  resources  for  science  and  technology  are  also  regarded  as  important, 
particularly  data  on  mobility  and  career  patterns,  as  well  as  detailed  information  on 
staff  with doctorates and on the training of scientists. 

M 

Lastly,  it  was  suggested  that  data  should  be  collected  on  "Intangible  Investments"  as  a 
whole. 

2.2.2 

Improvement  of the existing  methodological  framework 

The  only  way  of  obtaining  comparable  data  at  international  level  is  to  use  a  generally 
recognised  methodology.  The  methodological  framework  currently  used  for  R&D  and 
innovation  statistics  was  almost  totally  developed  by  the  OECD  (Frascati  Manual,  Oslo 
Manual,  Manuals  on  the  use  of  data  on  patents  and  technological  balance  of  payments). 
However,  this  methodological  framework 
is  not  at  all  complete,  and  even  the  existing 
manuals  must  be  constantly  revised  so that the methods  take  account  of current  developments. 

In  line  with  this  argument,  one  of the  Commission's  tasks  set  out  in  the  Council  Decision  is  to 
improve,  where  necessary,  the  existing  methodological  framework  (see  Article  4(b)).  This 
task  is  described  in  greater  detail  in  the  Annex  to  the  Council  Decision,  whicfTstates  that 
"further  development  of  the  methodology  will  take  place  in  close  collaboration  with  the 
OECD  and  within  the  framework  provided  by  it,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  what  has 
already  been  done  by  that  institution  ..."  (Annex  to  the  Council  Decision,  third  sentence  of 
section  (b)).  Only  "where  an  adequate  or  adoptable  methodology  does  not  already  exist,  the 
Commission  shall  take  the  lead  and  initiative  in  developing  the  framework  to  cater  for  the 
special  needs  of  the  Community"  (idem,  fourth  sentence).  "The  further  methodology 
development  will  be  formulated  in  manuals  which  will  be  adopted  at  Community  level." 
(idem,  sixth  sentence). 

The  Commission  has  devoted  special  attention  to  this  task  in  the  past  two  years.  The 
following  work  has  been  done  on the methodological  reference  framework: 

The  Commission  was  involved  in  the  revision  of  the  OECD's  Frascati  Manual,  the 
fifth  edition  of which  has  now been  published  by the  OECD. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  international  R&D  and  innovation  statistics,  the 
OECD  and  the  Commission  developed  a joint  methodological  manual.  The  Canberra 
Manual  contains  recommendations  on  the  collection  and  analysis  of  data  on  human 
resources  for  science  and  technology.2  The  first  edition  was  published  jointly  by  the 
OECD  and  Eurostat  in July  1995. 

innovation 
The  Oslo  Manual  is  currently  being  revised  as  the  basis  of  modern 
statistics.  Since  the  cooperation  between  the  OECD  and  Eurostat  in  the  production  of 
the  Canberra  Manual  proved  very  fruitful  and  successful,  and  because  the  Commission 
has  acquired  considerable  international  experience  in  the  field  of  innovation  statistics 
as  the  result  of  the  first  harmonised  innovation  survey  (see  2.2.5  below),  the  Oslo 
Manual  is  also  being jointly  revised.  In  practice,  the  OECD  is  responsible  for  leading 
the  project,  whereby  the  Commission  is,  however,  kept  constantly  informed  of  all  the 
actions.  Of  the  five  working  parties  set  up,  the  one  on  statistical  methodology  is 
headed  by  Eurostat.  According  to  the  current  plans,  the  second  edition  of  the  Oslo 
Manual  just  as  the  Canberra  Manual  will  be  published  jointly  by  the  OECD  and 
Eurostat. 

2 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  specific  requirements  of  the  Commission  were  taken  into  account  in  the 
development  of the methodological  framework. 

In  addition  to  these joint  activities  with  the  OECD,  the  Commission  has  drawn  up n 
methodological  manual  on  the  "Regional  Dimension  of  R&D-  and  Innovation 
Statistics". Parts of this manual  could  become an annex to the Frascati  manual.  In the 
working  party  meeting  of  8 to  10 November  1995, this  manual  was  submitted  to  the 
EU  Member  States  for  a formal  decision.  The  first  version  should  be  available  in  all 
eleven  languages at the beginning of  1996. 

Analyses  have  revealed  that  the  international  comparability  of  the  data  currently 
available  in  the  EU  Member  States  on  public  R&D  funding  is  limited.  National 
presentations  in  working  party  meetings  have  confirmed  this.  It  was  consequently 
agreed  that  Eurostat  should  submit  proposals  for  methodological  improvements  in 
order to increase comparability.  Initial  proposals were presented  to the Member  States 
at the working party meeting of 8 to  10 November  1995. These proposals  are based  on 
the  methodological  recommendations  in  Chapter  8  of  the  OECD's  Frascati  Manual, 
which .are, however, relatively vague on some points. It is perfectly  conceivable  that at 
least  some  of the recommendations  currently  being  prepared  might  be  included  in  the 
next version of the Frascati Manual. 

2.2.3 

Identification  of the existing statistical  information 

Article  4,  first  sentence  (c)  of  the  Council  Decision  stipulates  that  the  Commission  is  to 
identify  "existing  statistical  information  on  research,  development  and  innovation".  The 
supplementary  notes  in  the  annex  to  the  Council  Decision  specify  that  "this  investigation  is 
aimed  at  showing  the  extent  of  accessible  data  in  the  Member  States  and  the  differences 
between the Member States" (Annex to the Council Decision, second sentence of section (c)). 

Of  all  the  main tasks  imposed  on the  Commission  in connection  with  this  Council  Decision, 
this  was  the first to  be  completed.  As  long  ago  as  March  1994 the  Commission  presented  to 
the Member  States the final report of a study, which was unanimously  accepted  in  September 
of  the  same  year.  In  this  study,  the  Commission  sought  to  collect  and  analyse  data  on  the 
national  R&D and innovation systems, on the availability  and quality of data, broken down by 
subsectors3,  their  periodicity  and  the  data  users.  The  study  was  based  on  a  uniform 
questionnaire  which  was  used  by  the  Commission's  contractor,  the  Greek  company  Oreo,  in 
all  the  participating  countries.  A total  of  17 Member  States  of  the  European  Economic  Area 
and  Switzerland took part in this study, and it was only Liechtenstein  for  which no data  could 
be obtained. 

Annex  III to  this  interim  report  contains  a summary  of  this  study.  Detailed  information  may 
be  takçn  from  the  study  itself,  which  may  be  requested  from  Eurostat's  Unit  D3.  It  should, 
however,  be pointed  out that this study  no longer describes  the present  situation.  Since  it  was 
completed,  there  has  been  a marked  improvement  in  the  data  situation,  as  can  be  seen,  inter 
alia, from  the following  section. 

Data  were  collected  on  the  subsectors  public  R&D  funding,  R&D  input  factors,  broken  down  by  sector 
(economic 
innovation, 
sector,  government,  higher  education,  private  non-profit  organisations), 
technological  balance of payments, patents, high  technology, competitiveness  and  bibliometry 

13 

2.2.4 

Setting up a European  statistical  information  system4 

The  Commission's  long-term  objective  is to  set  up  a European  statistical  information  system 
for  research,  development  and  innovation.  Under  the  programme  described  in  the  Council 
Decision,  the  Commission  has  the  task  of  carrying  out  the  necessary  organisational  and 
technical  preliminary  work  for  achieving  this objective.  The relevant  details  are  contained  in 
section  (d) of the Annex  to the  Council  Decision,  which  states that  the  information  system  is 
to  contain  data  on  various  input  factors  (public  and  private  R&D  funding,  R&D  personnel, 
R&D  expenditure),  and  output  factors  (innovation,  trade  in  high-technology  goods  and 
services)  of  the  R&D  and  innovation  process,  and  these  are  to  be  further  broken  down  by  a 
number  of  variables  (sector,  branch  of  economic  activity,  region,  socio-economic  objective). 
If  necessary,  data  on  patents  and  bibliometric  indicators  are  to  be  added  to  this  system.  All 
available  data  are  to  be  stored  in  data  banks,  irrespective  of  whether  or  not  they  are  fully 
harmonised.  These  databanks  are  also  to  contain  all  the  data  directly  collected  by  the 
Commission. 

The  Commission  has  already  gone  a  long  way  towards  completing  this  task.  The  following 
information  is already available to Eurostat: 

Data  on  public  R&D  funding  for  the  period  to  1994,  classified  by  socio-economic 
objectives.  In  addition  to  the  data  supplied  to the  Commission  by  the  Member  States 
and  Directorate-General  XII, Eurostat also calculates derived  indicators  such as public 
R&D  funding  as  a  percentage  of  gross  domestic  product  at  market  prices  or  as  a 
percentage  of the total  budget  of  general  government5.  The  breakdown  of the  data  on 
public  R&D  funding  by  socio-economic  objectives  is based  on the  "Nomenclature  for 
the analysis and comparison  of scientific programmes and budgets" (NABS), compiled 
by  the  Commission  in  the  1960s.  In  1994  the  Member  States  adopted  the  1993 
revision  of this classification.  Classifications  must be revised  every  few  years to  bring 
them  into  line  with  current  developments.  The  main  differences  between  the  present 
NABS  and  the  1983  version  are  amendments  to  sub-chapters 
in  Chapter  1 
(Exploration  and exploitation  of the Earth), 3 (Control  and care of the environment), 5 
(Production,  distribution  and  rational  utilization  of  energy),  7  (Industrial  production 
and technology),  10 (Research financed from  General University Funds) and  11  (Non-
oriented  research),  in  which  the  branches  of  science  used  for  the  more  detailed 
breakdown  are more differentiated  than in the  1983 version. 

Not  all  the  Member  States  are  able  to  supply  data  on  public  R&D  funding  at  NABS 
sub-chapter  level.  This  is  the  case  for  the  new  Member  States  Austria,  Finland  and 
Sweden  and  for  Norway,  since  these  countries  have  for  many  years  used  an  OECD 
classification  which  does  not  provide  for  any  further  differentiation.  The  transition 
from  one  classification  to  another,  even  if  they  are  largely  identical  at  the  highest 
level,  requires  time  and  resources.  Other  Member  States  do  not  have  the  necessary 
resources  for  the further  differentiation  of existing data or they fundamentally  question 
the purpose of a detailed  breakdown by socio-economic  objectives. 

The  following  considerations arc restricted  to the Commission's part of the system. 

4 
.*>  The data  for  the reference  variables are obtained  from  other  Eurostat  databanks. 

Data  on  M&.D personnel  for  the  period  1985  to  1993.  broken  down  by  sector  and_ 
within  the  business  enterprise  sector,  by  branch  of  economic  activity0,  in  each  ease 
according  to  the  recommendations  of  the  Frascati  Manual,  and  by  type  of  personnel 
and  by  region.  All  data  at  national  level  are  based  on  OECD  data,  while  regional  data 
have  been  supplied  directly  to  Eurostat  by  the  Member  States.  Since  Eurostat  is  keen 
to  provide  data  both  in  numbers  and  in  full-time  equivalents,  it  estimates  any  missing 
data  in this  field. 

Eurostat  attaches  special  importance  to  regional  data,  but  their  comparability  is  still 
limited.  Further  efforts  at  harmonization  will  be  necessary 
the 
comparability  of  regional  data  on  R&D  personnel.  Eurostat's  manual  entitled  "The 
Regional  Dimension  of  R&D  and  Innovation  Indicators"  (see  2.2.2  above)  provides 
the  basis  for  this.  In  addition  to the  original  data,  Eurostat  continues  to  publish  derived 
indicators  such  as  R&D  personnel  as a percentage  of the  labour  force.7 

improve 

to 

Data  on  R&D  expenditure  for  the  period  1985  to  1993,  broken  down  by  sector  and. 
within  the  business  enterprise  sector,  by  branch  of  economic  activity8,  in  each  case 
according  to  the  recommendations  of  the  Frascati  Manual,  and  by  regions.  All  data  at 
national  level  were  obtained  from  OECD  databanks.  The  above  comments  on  derived 
indicators  and  data  quality  in connection  with  regional  R&D  personnel  data  also  apply 
here. 

Data  on  patent  applications  to  the  European  Patent  Office  for  the  period  from  1989, 
broken  down  by  region  and  sub-class  of  the  International  Patent  Classification  (IPC). 
These  data  are  based  on  a  special  analysis  of  the  databanks  of  the  European  Patent 
Office,  whereby  patent  applications  were  allocated  to  the  individual  regions  on  the 
basis  of  the  inventor's  private  address.  In  order  to  make  this  allocation,  it  was  first 
necessary  to  provide  a key  for  converting  between  national  post  codes  and  the  regional 
classification  of  the  European  Union,  NUTS.  The  Commission  has  developed 
appropriate  software  for  this  purpose  for  all  EU  Member  States  except  Denmark9, 
Ireland10,  Luxembourg11  and  Finland12. 

The  breakdown  of  patent  applications  by  sub-section  of  the  International  Patent 
Classification  is  not  at  all  the  best  solution  from  the  point  of  view  of  economic 
analysis.  It  would  be  far  better  to  allocate  them  to the  branches  of  economic  activity  in 
which  the  patents  are  ultimately  used.  There  are,  however,  fundamental  problems  in 

" 

Data  for  the  business  enterprise  sector  broken  down  by branch  of  economic  activity  are  only  available  for 
selected  years. 
Cf.  footnote  5. 

' 
^  Data  for  the  business  enterprise  sector  broken  down  by  branch  of economic  activity  are  only  available  for 

9 

selected  years. 
This  conversion  key  cannot  be  obtained  without  a  key  for  converting  between  postcodes  and  the  national 
regional  classification,  which  does not exist  for  Denmark. 
Ireland  only  has postcodes  for the  Dublin  and Cork areas. 

'0 
'  '  Since  the data  are recorded  at NUTS-3  level  and  Luxembourg  itself  is a NUTS-3  region,  no conversion  key 

was necessary  for  this Member State. 

12  Finland  has  not  yet  signed  the  Munich  Convention,  which  is  the  international  legal  basis  for  European 
patents.  Since  Finnish  patents  cannot,  therefore,  be  included  in  the  European  Patent  Office's  databank,  it 
was  not necessary  to devise  a conversion  key  for  Finland. 

15 

breaking  down  patent  applications  by  the  branches  of  economic  activity  which  will 
ultimately  benefit  from  them,  since at  the  time  of application  to  the  patent  office  it  is 
possible  only  in  rare  cases  to  predict  with  certainty  the  branch  in  which  the  patents 
will  ultimately  be  put  to  economic  use.  Despite  these  fundamental  difficulties, 
Eurostat  has  launched  a  joint  project  with  the  European  Patent  Office  in  order  to 
develop  a  key  for  converting  between  the  International  Patent  Classification  and 
NACE. 

Data  from  the  first  pilot  survey  on  innovation  (see  2.2.5  below).  This  survey  has 
supplied  Eurostat  with  more  than  40 000  individual  sets  of  data  from  enterprises 
giving  information  on  information  sources,  objectives,  inhibiting  factors,  costs  and 
effects  of  innovations,  R&D  activities,  and  purchase  and  sale  of  technologies,  and 
general  information  on  the  enterprises  concerned.  Since  these  data  are  confidential, 
only  a  few  members  of  Eurostat's  staff  have  direct  access  to  the  results  of  this  pilot 
survey,  in  accordance  with  Council  Regulation  (Euratom,  EEC)  No  1588/90.  So  that 
this voluminous body of data can nevertheless be made available to other users,  further 
databanks  have  been  and  are  being  set  up  with  more  highly  aggregated  results.  The 
individual  databanks  differ  in the degree  of aggregation  and  in the  user  groups  which 
are granted  access to them13. 

The  above-mentioned  data,  except  the results of the pilot  survey  on  innovation,  are  available 
in  various  databanks,  some  of  which  are  accessible  to  Eurostat  staff  only  but  most  of  which, 
e.g.  the  REGIO databank,  are generally  accessible. The main R&D data from  these  databanks 
are  also  made available  in paper  form  in the annual  publication  "Research  and Development -
Annual  Statistics"  and  in  summarising  Eurostat  publications.  Eurostat  also  publishes  once  a 
year,  in  connection  with  "Research  and  Development  -  Annual  Statistics",  an  edition  of 
"Statistics  in Brief  containing  the main results from  this publication,  twice a year data on the 
progress  of  the  programme  in  the  form  of  REDIS-NEWS.  and  at  irregular  intervals  brief 
information  on special projects  such as the innovation  survey. 

In  addition  to  special  Eurostat  publications,  the  data  available  at  Eurostat  on  R&D  and 
innovation  are  an  important  input  for  further  Commission  publications.  The  main  case  in 
point  is the  "European  Report  on Science and Technology  Indicators", which was  first  issued 
by Directorate-General  XII in  1994, Eurostat being a major  contributor to its statistical  annex. 

In  addition  to  the  above-mentioned  activities  involving  the  collection  and  to  a certain  extent 
harmonization  of  data,  Eurostat  has  already  launched  other  projects  in  order  to  fill  existing 
gaps  in  the  data.  One  of  these  projects  seeks  to  collect  information  on  HRST  at  European 
level. On the basis of the methodological  recommendations  of the Canberra Manual  (see  2.2.2 
above)  and  a  special  survey,  carried  out jointly  with  the  OECD,  of  the  data  available  in  the 
Member  States,  basic  indicators  have  so  far  been  developed  which  will  measure  the  total 
volume  of such data, broken down  into various groups such as unemployed  or inactive  HRST, 
and  the  Member  States  have  been  requested  to  send  the  data  they  already  have  available  in 
this  area.  Another  project  seeks to develop  indicators  on the various  aspects  of the  R&D  and 
innovation  programmes  funded  .by  the  Commission  and  later  to  collect  data  for  these 
indicators  within  and,  where  necessary,  outside  the  Commission.  However,  this  project  is 

13  The  evaluation  of  this  pilot  survey  has  also  begun.  Preliminary  results  on  the  implement-  action  of  the 
national  surveys  are  already  available  (see  Archibugi,  D./Cohendet,  P./Kristensen,  A./Schàffer,  K.-A., 
"Evaluation  of  the  Community  Innovation  Survey  -  Phase  I,  EIMS  project  N°  93/40,  Internal  report, 
Luxembourg,  1994). 

16 

currently  in  its  initial  phase.  Apart  from  a basic  framework,  only  desirable  indicators  for  one 
area of this framework,  the financing of the projects, have so far  been  developed. 

2.2.5 

Pilot  surveys 

When  new  or supplementary  surveys  are  being  prepared,  their  feasibility  must  be checked  by 
means  of  pilot  surveys.  In  its  Decision,  the  Council  referred  expressly  to  the  need  for  pilot 
studies  "in  order  to  test  the  feasibility  of  some  data  collection  exercises"  (first  sentence  of 
section  (e) of the Annex to the Council Decision). 

The  Commission  has  so  far  taken  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  carry  out  pilot  studies 
chiefly  in  the  field  of  innovation  statistics.  Jointly  with  Directorate-General  XIII,  formerly 
SPRINT Programme,  Eurostat  decided  at the end of  1991/beginning of  1992 to carry  out  pilot 
innovation  surveys  in  a  small  number  of  Member  States.  At  that  time  the  basis  was  the  new 
methodology  developed  by  the  OECD  on  the  statistical  measurement  of  technological 
innovation  (OSLO  Manual).  This  project  was  so  favourably  received  that  finally  all  the  old 
EU  Member  States  and  Norway  took  part  in  the  harmonized  Community  Innovation  Survey 
(CIS).  Since  then,  directly  comparable  surveys  have  been  held  in  other  countries.  The 
methodology  used  for  them  is  either  the  same  (e.g.  Iceland)  or  largely  the  same  (e.g.  United 
States, Russia). 

A total  of  15 independent  surveys  were  carried  out  in the  13 EEA Member  States which  took 
part  in the  CIS.14  The  principle  of subsidiarity  was strictly  adhered  to. The  responsibility  for 
carrying  out  all  the  surveys  lay  with  national  institutions,  which  were  financially  assisted  by 
the  Commission  in all  the participating  countries  except  France  and Norway.  All  the  national 
surveys  were  based  on  a  harmonized  questionnaire15  drawn  up  by  the  Commission  in 
cooperation  with  the  OECD  and  the  Member  States,  methodological  recommendations  for 
conducting  the national  surveys,  and  other  technical  documents.  Despite  enormous  efforts  by 
all  the participants,  it did  not prove  possible  to achieve the  degree  of harmonization  aimed  at 
in  this  large-scale  pilot  survey.  There  are  a  number  of  reasons  for  this,  most  of  which  are 
described  in greater detail  in the first evaluation report already  submitted.16  The main  reasons 
were  the  respondents'  unfamiliarity  with  the  new  subject,  the  length  of  the  questionnaire, 
which was  a compromise  between different  interests and to which  many  Member  States  even 
added extra questions, and the methodological  recommendations  drawn up by Eurostat,  which 
were  not  detailed  enough  and  yet,  because  they  were  merely  recommendations,  were  not 
followed  in every  respect  by all  the participating  countries.  Based  on these  observations,  the 
evaluators  of the first part  of the CIS evaluation  strongly recommended  to set  up a legal  basis 
for  future  innovation  surveys. 

Another  area  in  which  pilot  surveys  are  an  important  tool  is  that  of  regional  indicators.  The 
currently  available  regional  R&D  data  are  far  from  adequate  for  providing  even  a  rough 
description' of  the  regional  R&D  and  innovation  systems.  Methodologies  must  be  developed 
for  further  indicators,  and  these  should  then  be  tested  in  practice.  The  methodological 
development  of these indicators has been begun  in connection with the manual  on the regional 
dimension  of  R&D  and  innovation  indicators; the feasibility  test  has not  yet  been  carried  out. 
However,  current  knowledge  is  not  yet  sufficient  to  carry  out  pilot  surveys  in  this  field,  in 
which  Eurostat,  with the financial support  of Directorate-General  XVI, has therefore  confined 

'4  Owing  to its federal  structure,  Belgium  carried  out three surveys. 
'-^  See section  2.2.4  for  a description  of the content  of the questionnaire. 
'6  A copy  of this report  may  be obtained  on  request. 

17 

itself  so  far  to  carrying  out  feasibility  studies  of  potential  indicators  such  as  those  on  regional 
technological  balance  of  payments  or  on  technology 
financial 
assistance  of  Directorate-General  I,  data  have  also  been  collected  on  the  regional  indicator 
system  in  Canada. 

infrastructure.  With 

the 

2.2.6 

Development  of basic  statistical  tools 

Under  Article  4,  first  sentence  (f)  of  the  Council  Decision,  developing  basic  statistical  tools  is 
given  as  the  last  group  of  tasks  to  be  carried  out  by  the  Commission  under  this  programme. 
According  to  the  Annex  to  the  Council  Decision  (see  section  (f),  second  sentence),  these 
include  registers,  electronic  data 
systems, 
interchange  (EDI) 
sampling,  questionnaires,  survey  processing  tools  and  data  analysis  systems,  in  order  "to 
simplify  as far  as  possible  data  collection  procedures  for  suppliers..."  {idem,  first  sentence). 

techniques,  classification 

There  are  differences  in  the  extent  to  which  the  above-mentioned  tools  have  so  far  been 
developed/used: 

The  compilation  of  uniform  registers  both  in  the  EU  Member  States  and  in  the  other 
Member  States  of  the  EEA  is currently  under  way  (see  also  Council  Regulation  (EEC) 
No  2186/93  of  22  July  1993  on  Community  coordination  in  drawing  up  business 
registers  for  statistical  purposes,  OJNo  L  196 of  5.8.1993,  p.l).  It  has  therefore  not  yet 
been  possible  to  use  the  registers  for  the  purposes  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  in 
all  Member  States. 

Nor  has  much  progress  been  made  in  the  use  of  EDI  techniques.  Trials  have  been 
carried  out  with  the  CUB.X  software  developed  by  Eurostat,  but  they  did  not  prove 
very  successful.  At  present  data  are generally  transmitted  by  the  exchange  of  diskettes. 

All  the  classifications  needed  for  carrying  out  the  activities  are  available  in  usable 
form.  However,  not  all  of  the  classifications  are  fully  up-to-date,  owing  to  the  long 
time  it  takes  to  revise  them  at  international  level.  The  NABS  classification  developed 
by  the  Commission  (see  2.2.2  above)  has  recently  been  amended  to  take  account  of  the 
changes  in  socio-economic  objectives.  In  addition,  first  actions  have  been  started  to. 
revise  the  COFOG  (Classification  of  Functions  of  Government)  with  respect  to  public 
funding  of  R&D  activities. 

Although  sampling  is  a  suitable  means  of  keeping  the  burden  on  respondents  to  a 
minimum,  there  are  nevertheless  exceptions  to  this  general  rule,  e.g.  when  a  relatively 
rare  phenomenon,  possibly  further  differentiated  according  to  variables  such  as  size  or 
economic  branch,  is  to  be  surveyed  in  a  small  country.  Furthermore,  legal  difficulties 
hamper  the  development  and  use  of  uniform  sampling  procedures  in  the  Member 
States.  A  sensible  approach  at  the  moment  would  seem  to  be  to  stipulate  accuracy 
requirements  which  the  Member  States  must  meet,  irrespective  of  the  methods  they 
use. 

So  far  it  has  only  been  possible  to  use  a  uniform  survey  questionnaire  in  the  pilot 
survey  on  innovation.  It  goes  without  saying,  however,  that  harmonized  questionnaires 
are  also  used  for  enquiries  to  the  Member  States  regarding  data  available  there. 

to  develop  suitable 

Relatively  great  efforts  have  already  been  made 
tools  for 
processing  the  data  sent  to  Eurostat  by  the  Member  States.  These  include  standard 
routines  for  checking  the  data  on  public  R&D  funding,  regional  R&D  expenditure  and 
regional  R&D  personnel,  but  also  specially  developed  programmes  for  checking  the 
results  of  the  pilot  surveys  on  innovation.  Additional  work  was  necessary  to  process 
the  results  of  these  pilot  surveys.  This  involved  the  use  and  to  sorn^  extent  also  the 
development  of  methods  for  estimating  missing  values  and  for  micro-aggregation,  a 
set  of  procedures  to  make  it  impossible  to  re-identify  the  results  of  individual  survey 
units,  in  this  case  enterprises,  although  the  individual  results  generally  undergo  only 
very  minor  changes. 

In  contrast  to  this,  there  have  so  far  been  no  major  activities  in  the  field  of  data 
analysis  systems.  Mainly  descriptive  statistical  analyses  of  the  information  on  public 
R&D  funding,  R&D  personnel,  R&D  expenditure  and  innovation  have  been  carried 
out  so  far. 

in  the  Council  Decision,  seem  very  promising,  and  so 

The  thinking  behind  the  tasks mentioned  in  (f)  in  the  first  sentence  of  Article  4  of the  Council 
Decision  is  to  provide  as  much  information  as  possible  without  placing  an  excessive  burden 
on  data  suppliers.  In  the  Commission's  view,  there  are  ways  of  achieving  this  aim  which, 
although  not  mentioned 
the 
Commission  has  already  begun  activities  in  this  field.  Among  them  is  the  development  of 
methods  for  filling  gaps  in  current  data  ("nowcasting").  Data  users  are  particularly  interested 
in  up-to-date  information,  e.g.  in  1995  they  are  interested  in  R&D  expenditure  in  1994  or  at 
least  in  1993.  Current  data  survey  practice  in  many  Member  States  makes  it  impossible  to 
provide  such  up-to-date  information  for  all  the  Member  States.  Additional  surveys  would 
have  to  be  carried  out,  but  this  would  run  counter  to  the  above-mentioned  principle.  The 
solution  might  be  short-term  forecasts  for  these  most  recent  years  ("nowcasts").  Eurostat  has 
already  started  initial  work  on  the  systematic  analysis  of  suitable  procedures  in  the  field  of 
R&D  statistics. 

Another  field  became  apparent  during  the  planning  of  the  collection  of  HRST  data.  After  the 
methodology  developed  (Canberra  Manual,  see  2.2.2.  above),  the  resulting  need  for  data  and 
the  information  actually  available  at  present  had  been  thoroughly  analysed,  the  conclusion 
was  drawn  that  the  gaps  in the  data  can  only  be  filled  by  large-scale  additional  surveys,  unless 
it  proves  possible  to  estimate  at  least  a  proportion  of  the  requisite  data.  The  thinking  here  is 
based  on  the  idea  that  it  might  be  sufficient  to  survey  only  the  data  for  basic  information  (e.g. 
marginal  distributions)  and  to  estimate  all  the  other  information  on  the  basis  of  incomplete 
data  from  a  wide  range  of  sources  by  means  of  suitable  methods  which  may  still  have  to  be 
developed.  Eurostat  will  pursue  this  idea  in connection  with  the  need  for  HRST  data. 

Besides  these  activities  specific  to  R&D  and  innovation  statistics,  other  initiatives  of  the 
Commission 
to  better  coordinate  and  articulate  R&D  and  general  economic  data  are 
worthwhile  being  mentioned: 

Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No.  696/93  of  15 March  1993  on  the  statistical  units  for  the 
observation  and  analysis  of the  production  system  in  the  Community; 
Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No.  3037/90  of  9  October  1990  on 
classification  of economic  activities  in the  European  Community; 
The  projects  SERT  ("Statistiques  des  Entreprises  et  Réseaux  Télématiques")  and  DSI S 
(Distributed  Statistical 
facilitate  data  collection  and 
distribution. 

Information  Systems) 

the  statistical 

to 

2.3 

Successes  and  gaps 

Analysis of the results achieved  by the Commission  so far  in its activities relating to R&D  and 
innovation  statistics  shows  that  great  progress  has  been  made  in  recent  years.  Successes 
achieved  thus  far  in the field of statistics on public  R&D  funding,  innovation,  and  HRST  and 
that  of  regional  indicators  should  be particularly  highlighted.  It  is also  important  that all  the 
activities  have  been  carried  out  according  to  the  international  methodology  and  in  close 
cooperation  with  the  Member  States  and  international  organizations,  particularly  the  OECD. 
On  the  whole,  it  seems justified  to  conclude  that  the  Commission,  in  particular  Eurostat,  is 
today one of the world  leaders in the field of R&D and  innovation statistics. 

The  successes  so  far  should  not,  however,  conceal  the  fact  that  many  problems  remain 
unsolved  and  also  that  there  is  still  a  long  way  to  go  before  all  the  tasks  imposed  on  the 
Commission  by the  Council  in its Decision  are completed.  The  following  are the main  areas 
in which more needs to be done: 

analysis of the needs of other major  users such as the European  Parliament,  CREST or 
international  organizations; 

data on private R&D  funding; 

indicators  on trade in goods and services in the high-tech  sector; 

data on HRST numbers and any changes in them; 

additional  information  for portraying regional R&D and innovation  systems; 

use of EDI techniques in order to keep the burden on data suppliers to a minimum  and 
possibly  even to reduce it; 

greater concentration  on data analyses; 

further  harmonization  of existing and new data. 

These  areas  will  represent  the  core  of  the  Commission's  activities  in  addition  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  existing  system,  in  the  second  half  of  the  programme  (see  3.1.  below) 
assuming that the necessary resources will be available. 

2.4 

Human  Resources 

A  necessary  condition  for  carrying  out  all  the  activities  described  so  far  has  been  adequate 
human  resources.  The  table  below  gives  an overview  of the  statutory  personnel  provided  by 
the  Commission  for  this programme  between  1993 and  1995.  In addition, the Member  States 
had to deploy  large numbers of officials  in order to implement  the programme on the  required 
scale. 

20 

'able  1 :  Eurostat personnel  involved  in the programme 
(in full-time  equivalents) 

Year 
1993 
1994 
1995 

Number 
4 
4 
3.5 

1 

Table  1 shows that since  1993 four  person-years of in-house personnel have been available  for 
this  programme.  The  0.5  man-year  reduction  between  1994  and  1995  is  exclusively  due  to 
temporarily  vacant  posts  during  1995.  On  the  basis  of  present  staff  planning,  it  may  be 
assumed  that there will be an increase in the number of staff  in 1996. 

3. 

Proposals  for  future  actions 

3.1 

Proposals  for  the  second  half  of the  programme 

The  Commission's  activities  in the field of R&D and innovation  statistics in the coming  years 
will  dovetail  with  the  work  of  recent  years,  whereby  the  accent  will  be  placed  on 
consolidating  activities  already  started.  Any  new  work  planned  is  merely  intended  to 
complete  or supplement  activities which are already under way.  The results of the analysis of 
user needs  (see  section 2.2.1)  were taken  sufficiently  into  account.  As in the  past,  all  actions 
will  be  closely  coordinated  with  all  the  participating  institutions,  like  the  OECD  Secretariat, 
UNESCO, the Member  States and the (other) users both  in and outside the Commission.  The 
IPTS (Institute for Prospective  Studies) in Seville will be joining the others as a new partner. 

In the  second  half of the programme, i.e. in  1996 and  1997, the Commission  will  concentrate 
initially  on  performing  those  tasks  of the  Council  Decision  which  it  did  not  or  did  not  fully 
complete  in the first half.  The main cases in point are (see also 2.3 above): 

the  analysis  of  the  need  for  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  on the  part  of  major  users 
who  have  not  so far  been  included  in the  analysis  of needs  (see 2.2.1  above),  such  as 
the European Parliament, CREST and international  organizations; 

the  provision  of  data  on  private  R&D  funding.  Since  some  of  these  data  are  already 
available  at  OECD  level, this task  will  be carried  out  again  in direct  cooperation  with 
the OECD  Secretariat; 

the  provision  of  impact  and  output  indicators,  including  the  development  of  the 
necessary  methodology  in  cases  where  it  is  not  available  at  international  level.  This 
task  goes  beyond  the  requirements,  described  in  the  Annex  to  the  Council  Decision, 
for  indicators  on trade in goods and  services  in the high-tech  sector, but this  extension 
seems  necessary  and  justified  in  view  of  the  growing  importance  of  this  group  of 
indicators; 

the provision  of data on HRST; 

the provision  of further  regional  indicators; 

21 

the  use  of  EDI  techniques.  The  completion  of  this  task  is  largely  dependent  on  the 
continuation  of projects  like  SERT  or  DSIS; 

greater  concentration  on  the  analysis  of  existing  data.  Consideration  should  also  be 
given  in  particular  to  the  combination  of  available  data  on  R&D  and  innovation  with 
existing  general  economic  and  demographic  data; 

further  efforts  to  harmonize  the  data.  This  horizontal  task  is  necessary  for  practically 
all  groups  of  indicators. 

Recent  developments,  whether  at  international  level  or  within  the  Commission,  make  it 
necessary  to  launch  further  projects,  to  step  up  existing  ones  or  to  participate  more  actively  in 
them.  One  of  these  projects  relates  to  the  keyword  "globalization".  Eurostat  has  launched  a 
project  to  analyse  the  effects  on  official  statistics  of  the  increasing  internationalization  of 
economic  activities  and  finding  as  far  as  possible  solutions  to  the  problems  involved.  An 
important  aspect  in  this  regard  is  the  field  of  R&D  and  innovation.  Another  project  refers  to 
intangible  investments.  Eurostat  will  increase  its  activities  in  this  field,  based  on  the  work 
already  done  by  the  OECD  secretariat  and  other  institutions. 

In  order  to  better  respond  to the  growing  request  for  S&T  indicators  expressed  by  the  political 
and  economic  decisionmakers  and  to  contribute  to  the  coordination  of  national  research 
policies  by  putting  at  the  disposal  of  users  of  S&T  data  a  common  basis  of  information  and 
knowledge,  General  Directorate  XII  published  the  "European  Report  on  S&T  indicators" 
(EUR  15897  FR)  for  the  first  time  in  1994.  This  report  contains  a substantial  statistical  annex 
which  for  the  first  time,  from  the  1996  edition,  will  be  prepared  under  the  responsibility  of 
Eurostat.  For  this  purpose,  Eurostat  will  set  up  a  special  databank  containing  all  the  data  in 
this  annex.  It  will  also  undertake  great  efforts  to  further  harmonize  the  data  already  available 
both  in  and  outside  the  European  Union  and  will  also  coordinate  all  the  additional  activities 
relating  to  surveys. 

3.2 

Proposals  for  the  period  after  completion  of  the  programme 

In  view  of  the  results  achieved  so  far,  it  can  be  expected  that  by  the  end  of  1997  the 
Commission  will  have  successfully  completed  at  least  most  of  the  tasks  imposed  on  it  by  the 
Council  in  this  programme.  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  anything  like  all  the  problems 
in  the  field  of  (European)  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  will  be  solved,  so  that  even  after  the 
completion  of  this  programme  great  efforts  will  be  necessary,  especially  with  regard  to  the 
comparability  and  completeness  of  data. 

the  comparability  of  the  available  data  has  not  yet  reached  a 
Despite  all  the  efforts, 
satisfactory  level.  Even  by  the  end  of  1997  the  fundamental  problems  in  this  field  will  not  be 
solved.  One  of  the  main  reasons  why  data  are  still  not  sufficiently  comparable  at  European 
level  is  that  there  are  differences  in  the  national  systems  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics, 
whether  in  survey  methods,  classifications  or  other  areas.  It  would  not  be  sensible  from  the 
point  of  view  of  content,  to  aim  at  complete  harmonization  of  all  the  national  systems,  but  it 
seems  absolutely  necessary  to  modify 
the  national  systems  so  that  there  is  an  overall 
improvement  in  the  comparability  of  the  data  collected  by  them.  Such  improvements  would, 
in  addition,  increase  the  comparability  of  R&D  and  innovation  data  with  general  economic 
statistics.  The  Commission  has  been  encouraged  in  this  view  by  the  experience  with  the  pilot 

22 

surveys  on  innovation,  in  which  the  Member  States  have  already  some  efforts  to  improve  the 
harmonization  of  innovation  data.  On  the  other  hand,  these  pilot  surveys  have  themselves 
shown  that  harmonization  efforts  based  exclusively  on  "gentlemen's  agreements"  fail.  The 
comparability  of  the  data  of  some  Member  States  could  be  much  better  if  they  had  followed 
Eurostat's  recommendations.  A  legal  basis  for  future  surveys  might  provide  at  least  a  partial 
solution  to  this  problem  (cf.  the  recommendations  of  the  evaluators  of  the  Innovation  Survey, 
set  out  on  p.  127 of  their  first  report).  For  this  reason,  the  Commission  has  already  conducted 
initial  informal  talks  on  the  attitude  of  the  Member  States  towards  a  legal  basis  for  future 
regular  R&D  and  innovation  surveys  in  the  European  Union  based  on  the  principle  of 
subsidiarity.  Since  the  overwhelming  majority  of  Member  States  agrees  with  this  idea  in 
principle,  the  Commission  will  be  following  it  up  in  the  coming  months  with  a  view  to 
submitting,  before  the  end  of  1997,  the  draft  of  a  legal  basis  for  regular  R&D  and  innovation 
surveys  in  the  European  Union.  A  summary  of  first  ideas  already  presented  to  the  Member 
States  is  given  in  Annex  IV. 

to  specific  programmes  of  the 

Another  fundamental  problem  relates  to  the  volume  of  available  data. 
It  is  not  difficult  to 
predict  that,  even  after  the  completion  of  the  programme,  by  no  means  all  the  data  needed  by 
users  will  be  available  at  European  level.  Thus,  even  after  1997.  the  Commission  and 
particularly  Eurostat  will  be  faced  with  the  task  of  filling  in  the  gaps  in  the  data.  Thus,  R&D 
sectorial  statistics  which  would  correspond 
framework 
programme  would  constitute  a  valuable  contribution  for  the  strategic  follow-up  of  these 
programmes  (e.g.  for  energy-environment).  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  in this  connection  that 
any  additional  request  to  the  Member  States  for  data  involves  additional  financial  burdens  and 
additional  burdens  for  the  respondents  at  a  time  when  less  and  less  money  is  available  for 
statistical  purposes  and  the  respondents  are  less  and  less  willing  to  provide  information.  One 
way  out  of  this  dilemma  might  be  to  limit  additional  surveys  to  the  most  crucial  variables 
("core  variables")  and  to  use  other  information  which  is  already  available  in  order  to  estimate 
all  the  other  information  required,  eg.  by  means  of  models.  The  Commission  will  follow  up 
this  idea  in the  coming  years  and  test  it  in practice  in  a project.  The  HRST  project  is  currently 
regarded  as  a  possible  candidate.  Work  done  within  some  specific  programmes  could  also 
contribute  to  improving  the  data  collection  envisaged.  Another  way  could  be  to  use  existing 
administrative  data  as  far  as they  are  available. 

A  last  general  problem  might  be  the  challenges  of  the  emerging 
information  society. 
Knowledge  is more  and  more  seen  as  a new  factor  of  production,  in  addition  to  the  traditional 
ones  like  labour  and  capital.  This  development  might  require  a  new  or  at  least  changed 
methodological  framework  including,  amongst  others,  terms  like  "information  technology"  or 
related  issues. 

4. 

General  conclusions 

This  report  shows  that  the  Commission  has  already  achieved  some  successes  in  carrying  out 
the  programme  for  the  development  of  Community  statistics  on  research,  development  and 
innovation  adopted  by  the  Council.  At  the  same  time  there  remains  a  number  of  gaps  which 
will  have  to  be  filled  in  the  two  remaining  years.  In  addition,  in  the  years  since  the  adoption 
of  the  programme  new  requirements  have  emerged  which  the  Commission  must  also  meet  as 
far  as  it  possibly  can.  The  Commission  requests  the  Council  to  take  positive  note  of  this 
Interim  Report  pursuant  to  Article  8(a) of  the  Council  Decision. 

eurostat 

ANNEX I 

Council Decision  of 24 January  1994 

establishing  a multiannual  programme  for  the development  of 

Community  statistics  on research, development  and  innovation 

24 

No  L  3 8 / 30 

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities 

9.  2.  94 

II 

(Acts  whose  publication 

is  not 

obligatory) 

COUNCIL 

C O U N C IL  DECISION 

of  24  January  1994 

establishing  a  multiannual  p r o g r a m me  for  the  development  of  C o m m u n i ty  statistics  on 
research,  development  and  innovation 

(94/78/CE,  Euratom) 

THE  COUNCIL  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  UNION, 

H a v i ng  regard 
C o m m u n i t y,  a nd  in  particular  Article  2 13  thereof, 

the  Treaty  establishing  the  European 

to 

H a v i ng  regard 
to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  E u r o p e an 
A t o m ic  Energy  C o m m u n i t y,  a nd  in  p a n i c u l ar  Article  187 
thereof, 

H a v i ng  regard  to  the  p r o p o s al  from  the  Commission  (!J, 

H a v i ng 
Parliament  (2), 

r e g a rd 

to 

the 

opinion 

of 

the 

European 

H a v i ng  regard  to  the  opinion  of  the  Economic  and  Social 
C o m m i t t ee  (3), 

statistics 

W h e r e as 
a nd 
innovation  need  to  be  reinforced  in  order  to  c o m p a re  and 
analyse  n a t i o n al  policies; 

development 

research, 

on 

i n f o r m a t i o n:  statistical  p r o g r a m me  of 

the 
W h e r e as  the  C o u n c il  resolution  of  19  June  1989  on 
i m p l e m e n t a t i on  of  a  plan  of  priority  actions  in  the  field 
of  statistical 
the 
to  1992)  (<)  highlighted 
E u r o p e an  C o m m u n i t i es 
the  need  for  a  comprehensive  and  coherent 
framework 
information 
satisfy  C o m m u n i ty 
that  will 
requirements  by  ensuring  the  a p p r o x i m a t i on  of  m e t h o ds 
and 
and 
s t a n d a r d s; 

concepts,  definitions 

a  c o m m on 

statistical 

(1989 

basis 

for 

Decision 

a 
Whereas 
framework  p r o g r a m me  for  priority  actions  in  the  field  of 
statistical  information  1993  to  1 9 9 7; 

9 3 / 4 6 4 / E EC  (*) 

establishes 

Whereas  the  conception  of  policies  aimed  at  e n c o u r a g i ng 
progress 
factual  k n o w l e d ge  of 
trends  in  science  and  technology  endeavours; 

requires  accurate  a nd 

indicators  a re  devised 

to 
Whereas  statistical 
support 
technology 
policies  in  the  M e m b er  States  a nd  the  C o m m u n i ty  as  a 
whole; 

the  m a n a g e m e nt  of 

science  and 

in  o r d er 

these  statistical 

Whereas 
indicators  are  c o m p l e m e n t a ry 
and  essential  to  other  priority  areas  a nd  p r o g r a m m es  of 
the  Communify,  e.g.  the  Sprint  p r o g r a m me  (6)  c o n c e r n i ng 
regional 
innovation  and 
Stride  p r o g r a m me  (7); 

technology 

transfer 

and 

the 

the 

the 

specific 
of 

p r o g r a m m es 
f r a m e w o rk 

the 
Whereas 
for 
implementation 
C o m m u n i ty  research  and  technological  development,  and 
themselves,  need  the  report 
the  framework  programmes 
of  a  statistical 
and 
technological  development; 

needed 
for 
p r o g r a m m es 

information 

system  on 

research 

the  a m o u nt  of  existing  statistical 

Whereas 
information 
varies  in  each  M e m b er  State  a nd  the  data  that  exist  are 
nor  always  c o m p a r a b l e; 

(»)  OJ  No  C  122,  14.  5.  1992,  p.  14. 
0)  OJ  No  C  115,  26.  4.  1993,  p.  213. 
(J)  OJ  No  C  332,  16.  12.  1992,  p.  77. 
H  Oj  No  C  161,  28.  6.  1989,  p.  1. 

(5)  OJ  No  L  219,  28.  8.  1993,  p.  1. . 
(')  OJ  No  I.  112,  25.  4.  1989,  p.  12. 
(7)  OJ  No  C  196,  4.  8.  1990.  p.  16. 

25 

9.  2.  94 

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities 

No  L  38/31 

for 

research, 

information 
Whereas  the  i m p l e m e n t a t i on  of  a  statistical 
and 
system 
innovation 
necessitates  a  sequence  of 
interrelated  actions  starting 
from  the  assessment  of  the  needs  up  to  the  dissemination 
of 
should  be 
organized  in  a  c o h e r e nt 

and  whereas 

development 

information, 

framework; 

this  action 

to 

their 

ensure 

in  o r d er 

W h e r e a s, 
and 
comparability,  the  details  of  data  to  be  provided  by  the 
M e m b er  States, to  the  Commission  should  be  established 
into  account  work  carried 
by 
o ut 
international 
organizations; 

taking 
by  O E C D,  Unesco 

the  C o m m i s s i on 

usefulness 

other 

and 

Whereas  the  data  collection  procedure  for  industry  and 
administrations  should  be  simplified  as  much  as  possible, 
while  still  m a i n t a i n i ng  at 
the 
d a t a,  which 
the  development  of 
a p p r o p r i a te  basic  statistical  tools; 

is  m a de  possible  by 

the  quality  of 

the  same 

is  essential 

it 
development 

W h e r e as 
research, 
coordinated 
national  and 
private 
conveniently 
established  procedures; 

that  developments 
innovation 
and 

in  official 
are 
to  meet  essential  international,  Community, 
regional  needs  at  minimum  public  and 
can  most 
the 

cost;  whereas 
and 

done  within 

coordination 

effectively 

statistics 

this 

be 

W h e r e as 
C o m m i t t ee  (Crest)  has  given  irs  opinion, 

the  Scientific 

and  Technological  Research 

HAS  ADOPTED  THIS  DECISION: 

Article 

] 

T he  multiannual  p r o g r a m me 
development 
of  Communify 
development  and 
'the  p r o g r a m m e ')  is  hereby  established. 

statistics 
(hereinafter 

innovation 

(1993 

to  1997) 

for 
the 
research, 
to  as 

on 
referred 

Article  2 

1.  The  p r o g r a m me  shall  end  on  31  December  1997. 

financial 

as 
2.  The  C o m m u n i ty 
to 
i m p l e m e n t a t i on  of 
necessary  for 
ECU  2,9  million  in  the  framework  of  the  1993  to  1997 
financial  perspectives. 

estimated 
the  programme 

resources 

the 

budget 

3.  The 
determine 
authority 
the 
taking 
appropriations  available  for  each  financial  year, 
into  account  the  principles  of  sound  management  referred 
to  in  Article  2  of  the  Financial  Regulation  applicable  to 
the  general  budget  of  the  European  Communities  (M 

shall 

Article  3 

The  objectives  of  the  p r o g r a m me  are  as  follows: 

(a)  to  set  out  a  C o m m u n i ty 

reference 

framework 

supporting 

for 
sratistics  on 
innovation 
research,  development  a nd 
defining  the  most  a p p r o p r i a te  concepts  and  m e t h o ds 
for 
C o m m u n i ty 
the  needs  of  national, 
policies,  and 
international 
and 
regional 
organizations, 
professional 
associations  and  the  general  public; 

administrations, 
o p e r a t o r s, 

the 
for  satisfying 

local 
economic 

c o r r e s p o n d i ng 

(b)  to  establish 

a  C o m m u n i ty 

statistical 

information 

system  for  research,  development  and 

innovation; 

(c)  to  promote  and  s u p p o rt  h a r m o n i z a t i on  of  statistics 
the 

research,  development 

innovation 

and 

in 

on 
Member  States; 

(d)  to 

facilitate 
information. 

the 

dissemination 

of 

c o m p a r a b le 

Article  4 

to  achieving 

in 
With  a  view 
Article  3,  the  following  w o rk  shall  be  carried  out  by  the 
Commission,  in  cooperation  with  the  M e m b er  States,  in 
line  with  the  action  plan  set  out  in  the  A n n e x: 

the  objectives  referred 

to 

(a)  analysis  and  evaluation  of  user  d e m a n d,  subject  to  its 
feasibility  and  based  on  cost  efficiency, 
to 
define  actions  and  pnoriries,  for  statistics  on  research, 
development  and 

innovation; 

in  order 

(b)  improvement,  where 

necessary, 

of 

the 

existing 

methodological 

framework; 

(c)  identification  of  existing  statistical 

information  on 

research  development  and 

innovation; 

(d)  setting 

up 

the 

organizational 

and 

components  of  a  C o m m u n i ty  statistical 
system 
research,  development  and 
including  statistics  of  C o m m u n i ty 
and  development  activities; 

for 

funded 

technical 
information 
innovation, 
research 

(e)  c a r r y i ng  o ur  pilot  s u r v e y s; 

(f)  developing  basic  statistical  tools. 

The  Commission  shall  make  use  of  existing  sources  of 
the 
instruments  and  procedures, 
information, 
work  and  existing  data  of  O E C D,  Unesco  and  other 
international  organizations,  to  carry  out  these  tasks. 

including 

(M  Ol  No  L  356,  31.  12.  1977,  p.  1  (Updated  rc.vr:  OJ 

No  C  SO,  25.  ?.  1991,  p.  1). 

The 
specific 
implemented 
93/464/EEC. 

26 

actions 
in 

tins 
accordance 

ot 

p r o g r a m me 
with 

Decision 

shall 

be 
No 

No  L  38/32 

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities 

9.  2.  94 

Article  S 

Article  3 

(a)  The  Commission  shall  present  an  interim  report 

to 
the  Council  in  1995,  accompanied 
if  necessary  by 
proposals  it  considers  appropriate,  particularly  on  the 
methodological  framework  referred  to  in  Article  4  (b) 
and  on  the  implementatio'n  of  a  system  based  on  that 
methodology,  for  the  regular  collection  of  harmonized 
statistics  on  research,  development  and  innovation,  as 
well  as 
the  requirements  of  Community 
policy  on  RTD  and  innovation  and  the  requirement 
for  regional  data  to  aid  structural  policies. 

to  cover 

(b)  The  Commission  shall  present  a  final  report  in  1998 
to  evaluate  the  implementation  of  the  programme. 

Article  9 

This  Decision  is  addressed  to  the  Member  States. 

Done  at  Brussels,  24  January  1994. 

For  the  Council 

The  President 

G.  MORAIT1S 

in  connection 
The  specific  actions  of  the  Commission 
with  the  collection  and  submission  of  statistical  data  by 
the  Member  States  shall  be  adopted  pursuant  to  the 
procedure 
in  Article  6  of  Decision  No 
93/464/EEC. 

laid  down 

The  Commission  shall  draw  on  the  expertise  of  national 
experts, 
research  and 
technological  development  (RTD),  for  the  purposes  of 
implementation  of  the  programme. 

in  particular 

field  of 

the 

in 

Article  6 

The  Member  States  shall  ascertain  and  analyse  the  needs 
of  the  national  users  for  Community  data  on  research, 
technological  development  and  innovation  statistics  and 
transmit  appropriate  information,  where  available,  to  the 
Commission  within  eight  months  of  the  adoption  of  this 
Decision.  The  Commission 
these 
activities. 

coordinate 

shall 

Article  7 

For  the  work  referred  to  in  Article  4,  Member  States  shall 
transmit  existing  statistics  on  research,  development  and 
innovation  and  information  concerning  the  methodology 
used  for  collecting  such  statistics,  including 
the  data 
declared  confidential  by  the  Member  States  pursuant  to 
legislation  or  practice  concerning  statistical 
domestic 
the  provisions  of 
confidentiality, 
(Euratom,  EEC)  No  1588/90  of 
Council  Regulation 
the  transmission  of  data  subject  to 
11  June  1990  on 
statistical  confidentiality 
to  the  Statistical  Office  of  the 
European  Communities  ('). 

in  accordance  with 

I1)  OJ  No  I.  151,  15  6.  1990,  p.  1 

27 

9.  2.  94 

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities 

No  L  3 8 / 33 

PLAN  OF  ACTION  FOR  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  COMMUNITY  STATISTICS  ON  RESEARCH, 
DEVELOPMENT  AND  INNOVATION 

ANNEX 

(a)  Analysis  and  evaluation  of  user  demand  for  statistics  on  research,  development  and  innovation 

The  aim 
Community 
organizations  and  economic  operators. 

institutions,  Crest, 

is  to  collect  information  on,  and  analyse  the  requirements  of, 
the  national, 

regional  and 

local  administrations, 

the  main  users,  i. c.  the 
international 

In  order  to  facilitate  long-term  planning  and  a  convergence  of  statisrical  actions  at 
Community,  national  and  regional  levels,  the  analysi*  will  take  into  account  long-term  requirements. 

international, 

(b)  Improvement,  where  necessary,  of  the  existing  methodological  framework 

The  aim  will  be  a  reference  framework  for  statistics  on  research,  development  and  innovation,  both  for 
existing  data  at  narional  level  and  for  additional  data  collection  at  Community  level.  This  reference 
framework  will  increase  the  comparability  of  data  berween  the  various  Member  States. 

Further  development  of  the  methodology  will  take  place  in  close  collaboration  with  the  OECD  and 
within  the  framework  provided  by  ir,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  what  has  already  been  done  by  that 
institution  in  the  field  and  to  guarantee  comparability  with  third  countries.  Where  an  adequate  or 
adoptable  methodology  does  not  already  exist,  the  Commission  shall  take  the  lead  and  initiative  in 
developing  the  framework  ro  cater  for  the  special  needs  of  the  Community. 

The  methodology  will  be  used  as  the  basic  harmonization 
the  development  of  official 
Community  statistics  on  research,  development  and  innovation  and  as  a  recommended  framework  for 
non-official  statistics. 

tool  for 

The  further  methodology  development  will  be  formulated 

in  manuals  which  will  be  adopted  at 

•  Community  level. 

(c)  Identification  of  the  existing  statistical  information  on  research,  development  and  innovation 

In  order  to  develop  the  methodology  and  the  information  system,  examinations  must  be  made  10  reveal 
the  amount  of  existing  information  on  research,  development  and  innovation.  This  investigation  is  aimed 
at  showing  the  extent  of  accessible  data  in  the  Member  States  and  the  differences  between  the  Member 
States.  This  knowledge  is  necessary  for  the  collection  of  identical  and  comparable  data.  It  stresses  and 
highlights  where  to  make  special  effort 
to  promote  and  support  the  harmonization  of  statistics  on 
research  and  development  and  innovation. 

(d)  Setting  up  the  organizational  and  technical  components  of  a  European  statistical  information  system  for 

research,  development  and  innovation 

Prioriries  will  be  given  to  the  following: 

Resources: 

—  Modes  of  financing  research  and  development  activities  (both  private  and  public) 

—  Research  and  development  (R&D)  personnel 

—  R&cD  expenditure  by  sector  (of  enterprises,  the  State,  higher  education! 

Results: 

—  Technological  innovation  in  the  enterprises 

—  Exchange  of  goods  and  services  of  high  technology 

On  a  circumstantial  basis,  work  will  also  be  undertaken  on  the  direct  repercussions  of  the  research  on 
patents  and  bibliography. 

Dara  will  be  classified  according 
attenrion  will  be  given  to  the  regional  dimension. 

to  European  nomenclatures  (NADS,  NACE  REV  I  . ..).  Special 

28 

No  L  3 8 / 34 

Official  Journal  of  the  European  C o m m u n i t i es 

9.  2.  94 

Data  will  be  stored  in  data  bases  which  will  contain: 

1.  harmonized  data  on  R&D  and  innovation; 

2.  national  data  collected  according  to  national  practices  not  yet  fully  harmonized; 

3.  data  collected  by  the  Commission. 

(e)  Carrying  out  pilot  surveys 

Improving  the  availability  of  data  on  research,  development  and  innovation  sometimes  requires  the 
carrying  out  of  pilot  surveys  in  order  to  test  the  feasibility  of  some  data  collection  exercises.  The  pilot 
surveys  will  prepare  the  way  for  regular  data  collection  based  on  the  methodology.  These  pilot  surveys 
will  be  carried  out  in  accordance  with  the  concepts  and  methods  developed  in  the  methodology. 

(f)  Developing  the  basic  statistical  tools 

Basic  statistical  tools  must  be  developed  in  order  to  simplify  as  fas  as  possible  data  collection  procedures 
for  suppliers  and,  in  panicular,  to  minimize  the  burden  placed  on  enterprises,  whilst  maintaining  data 
quality.  These  statistical  tools  will  include  registers,  Electronic  Data  Interchange  (EDI)  techniques, 
classification  systems,  sampling,  questionnaires,  survey  processing  tools,  data  analysis  systems. 

29 

eurostat 

ANNEX  II 

Detailed  Analyses  of User Needs for  Community  Statistics  on 

Research, Development  and  Innovation 

30 

1. 

1.1 

SUMMARY  OF FINDINGS FROM  NATIONAL  REPORTS 

Background 

After  discussions with the Member  States it was agreed  that Eurostat  should  not  give  Member 
States  very  specific  guidelines  for  the  structure  of  the  national  reports.  A  general  paper  was 
prepared  as a background17.  The Member  States could  base the reports  on a special  survey  of 
users  or  other  available  information.  As  a  result  the  national  reports  were  very  different  in 
scope. The  length  varied  between  half  a page  and  some  20  pages. All  current  Member  States 
(except Luxembourg)  and Norway  submitted their reports to Eurostat. 

1.2 

General  findings 

The  main  users  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  are  more  or  less  the  same  in  all  the 
countries: 

-  science and technology  policy  analysts 
-  decision-makers 
researchers 
- 

The  users  in  institutional  terms  are  for  instance  enterprises,  industrial  organisations,  public 
administration,  research institutes, universities, international  organisations  like the OECD  and 
the European  Commission. 

In the analysis of user needs, it must be borne  in mind that the needs are not  static but  change 
over  time.  The  demands  expressed  here  represent  the  current  needs  or  the  needs  within  the 
next few years. 

A substantial  demand  for  comparable  information  on R&D and innovation  was expressed, not 
for  comparisons  within  the  EU  but  also  with  non-EU  OECD  member  countries  and 
only 
some  other  European  and  Asian  countries.  Therefore  continued  co-operation  with  the  OECD 
in  the  production  and  development  of  the  statistics  was  regarded  as  very  important.  A 
stronger  co-ordination  of concepts, classifications  and  survey  methodologies  is needed  in  the 
future  in order to further  improve the comparability of both R&D and innovation indicators. 

Users  often  want  to  evaluate  the  results  and  impact  of  investments  in  R&D  and  innovation. 
They  are therefore  interested  in being  able to  link  R&D  and  innovation  indicators  with  other 
indicators. Data bases  like the OECD  STAN data base, where information  on R&D, industrial 
production,  foreign  trade  and  input/output  is presented  according  to  a common  classification, 
are  useful  tools  for  this  purpose.  Several  countries  have  also  built  micro-level  data  bases, 
where  data  for  a  single  company  are  linked  together  from  various  data  bases  in  order  to  be 
able to analyse the relationship between  science and technology  and economic  performance. 

There is a need for almost all R&D and innovation  indicators broken down by region. 

all  countries  expressed 

Almost 
information  on 
Community-  funded  research.  This  relates  to  indicators  on  flows  of  funding,  statistics  on 
participation  in  projects  under  Framework  Programmes,  etc.  A  corresponding  demand  also 

for  more  detailed 

a  demand 

17  This paper  is available  from  unit  D3 of Eurostat on  request. 

31 

exists  for  information  on  R&D  funding  by  other  international  organisations  like  the  UN  and 
its subsidiary  bodies, the World Bank, the OECD, etc. 

A  general  request  was  made  for  defining  a  set  of  core  indicators,  which  could  be  produced 
annually,  and  complementary  indicators,  which  could  be  produced  less  frequently.  The 
quantitative  indicators could also be supplemented  with some qualitative data. 

The dissemination  of statistics is too slow for many users and efforts  should  be made to  speed 
up the process. The  ways  of disseminating  the data should  be improved  by a more  extensive 
use of computer networks. 

The more detailed  needs for  R&D and innovation indicators are presented  under the  following 
headings: 

indicators on R&D  inputs 
indicators on R&D  outputs 
indicators on R&D  impact 
innovation  indicators 

- 
- 
- 
- 
-  other R&D and innovation  indicators 
-  other related  indicators 

1.2.1 

Indicators  on R&D  inputs 

The most generally  available international  indicators are: 

-  R&D statistics based on the Frascati Manual (published mainly by the OECD) 
-  Statistics on Government  R&D appropriations (published mainly by Eurostat) 

As  R&D  statistics  have  been  produced  in  most  countries  for  a  fairly  long  time,  information 
based on R&D statistics is rather extensively used. For some needs the existing R&D  statistics 
are  not  detailed  enough.  More  detailed  industrial  breakdowns  are  needed  as  well  as  more 
detailed  information  by other breakdowns  such as field  of science, socio-economic  objectives 
(at least information  on environmental  and civil R&D), and  special  fields  like  biotechnology. 
performer-based  detailed 
At least some data on R&D are needed annually. For the moment 
R&D  data  are  for  many  countries  only  available  for  every  second  year.  Statistics  of  a  better 
quality  on  R&D  in  the  higher  education  sector  were  requested. 
In  spite  of  efforts  by  the 
OECD  and  other  organizations,  the  comparability  of  the  information  is  still  rather  limited. 
Extended  data  collection  on  acquired  R&D  from  outside  the  R&D  performing  organisations 
was.also  demanded  as  well  as  information  on  R&D  co-operation.  This  would  give  a  more 
complete picture of R&D flows  between various sectors of the economy. 

An  explicit  need  for  statistics  on  government  R&D  appropriations  by  detailed  NABS 
breakdowns  were  mentioned  by  only  a  few  countries.  This  does  not  necessarily  mean  that 
these  data  are  not  needed  by  other  countries.  Several  countries  expressed  doubts  about  the 
usefulness  of  NABS  at  a  more  detailed  level  than  1 digit.  One  of  the  main  ideas  of  the 
analysis  of  government  R&D appropriations  is to provide  policy-makers  with  information  on 
the  R&D  trends  in  the  government  budget  very  quickly,  preferably  immediately  after  the 
budget  is adopted.  Provisional  data on the  1-digit level could therefore  be provided to  Eurostat 
by a majority  of Member  States and published  much more rapidly than at present. 

32 

Several  users expressed  the need to have comparable  data on  the number  of  R&D  performing 
units.  This  indicator  is  not  included  in  the  Frascati  Manual  and  therefore  no  internationally 
comparable  data  are  available.  Further  harmonisation  of  populations  and  survey  methods  is 
also needed  in this context. 

Multinational  companies  operating  in several  countries  often  significantly  influence  the  R&D 
activities  in  a  single  country.  A  more  systematic  collection  of  information  on  the  R&D 
activities  of  these  companies  broken  down  by  country  of  performance  is  needed  as  a 
complement  to the traditional  nation-based  statistics on performers  of R&D. Various  national 
studies have shown that such a data collection is possible. 

1.2.2 

Indicators  on R&D outputs 

These  indicators  include  patent  applications,  patents  granted  and  bibliometric  indicators 
(numbers  of  articles,  citations,  co-citations,  etc.).  Patent  statistics  are  published  by  various 
international  organisations  (SEPO,  WIPO,  the  OECD,  etc.).  Bibliometric  indicators  are  not 
regularly  published.  They  are  usually  extracted  from  various  data  bases  for  specific  research 
purposes by researchers. 

The  need  for  and use of these data has until now been rather  limited. The main  users  of these 
indicators  have  probably  been  researchers.  In  order  to  increase  the  use  ot  these  data* and 
improve possibilities  for  international  comparisons, the OECD has published  a Manual  on the 
use  of  patent  data  as  teclinology  indicators.  More  systematic  compilation  and  publishing  of 
these data is needed. In order to improve the possibilities for  comparing patent  data with  other 
economic  data,  a  concordance  key  on  the  European  level  between  the  International  Patent 
Classification  (IPC)  and NACE  is needed.  Such  a key  is already  under  preparation  in  EPO  in 
co-operation  with Eurostat. 

1.2.3 

Indicators  on R&D impact 

These  indicators  include  technological  balance  of  payments  and  statistics  on  trade  in 
high-technology  products.  Even  if  a methodological  manual  on  the  technological  balance  of 
payments  exists,  published  by  the  OECD,  data  are  available  only  from  a few  countries.  The 
comparability  of these data is uncertain as the sources of the data are partly  enterprise  surveys 
and  partly_elements  from  the  general  balance  of  payments  statistics.  Data  on  trade  in 
high-technology  products  are  more  and  more  requested  by  users.  Until  now  they  have  been 
produced  by  Eurostat,  the  OECD  and  some  other  organisations  using  rather  different 
definitions. 

There  seems  to  be  a  clear  need  for  these  indicators,  which  however  need  methodological 
refinement  in  order  to  be  used  more  extensively.  The  data  on  technological  balance  of 
payments  should  be  more  based  on  enterprise  surveys.  The  effects  of  the  internal  market  on 
this  indicator  should  be  evaluated  as  part  of  the  development  work.  A  generally  acceptable 
definition  of  high-technology  products  is  needed  to  facilitate  wider  international  use  of  this 
indicator. 

1.2.4 

Innovation  indicators 

These  indicators  are derived  from  a new type of  survey  being  developed.  Innovation  surveys 
include  information  on sources of innovation, objectives  of innovation, barriers to  innovation, 
innovation  expenditure,  R&D  co-operation,  acquisition  and  selling  of  technology,  patent 
protection  and  effects  of  innovation.  The  methodological  basis  is  given  by  the  OECD  in  the 
Oslo  Manual,  applied  by  Eurostat  in  the  common  questionnaire  used  as  the  basis  for 
innovation  surveys  in  all  the  old  Member  States  of  the  European  Union  and  Norway  (the 
Community  Innovation  Survey,  CIS). National  results  of  these  surveys  are  already  available 
and the results of various comparative studies using the CIS data base will be available  during 
1995.  On  the  basis  of  all  experience  gained,  the  innovation  indicator  system  will  be  further 
developed  during  1995 and  1996 in order to be able to launch a new round of surveys. 

Great  interest  in these  surveys  has been  shown  in the  national  reports,  even  if a very  explicit 
need  for  data  from  these  surveys  has  not  been  presented.  Core  questions  on  R&D  and 
innovation,  which  might  be  needed  every  year  or  at  least  every  second  year,  and  other 
information,  which  might be needed  less frequently,  have to be identified.  An enlargement  of 
the scope of innovation  surveys to service  industries  is needed.  Some interest  was also  shown 
for  innovation  indicators based on new product  announcements. 

1.2.5  Other R&D and innovation  indicators 

Indicators on human resources for  science and technology  (HRST) are being developed on the 
basis  of  a  methodological  manual  compiled  jointly  by  the  OECD  and  Eurostat  (Canberra 
manual). 

As  no  results  of  international  comparisons  are  yet  available,  it  is  natural  that  the  needs 
expressed  are  not  very  specific.  Several  countries  were  interested  in  the  subject.  The  most 
urgent  need  in  this  field  seems  to  be  some  internationally  comparable  indicators  on  the 
mobility  of researchers.  This refers  both  to mobility  between  various  sectors  within  countries 
and mobility  between  countries. Longitudinal  studies  of career paths  of researchers  were  also 
needed.  Interest  was  also  expressed  to  have  information  on  PhD  students  and  more  detailed 
information  on the training of researchers. Information  on the unemployed by sex and  level of 
education was also requested. 

1.2.6  Other related  indicators 

Knowledge  accumulation  of  firms  is one of the  key  factors  leading  to  innovation.  One  of the 
indicators  related  to  this  is  training  expenditure  by  firm.  Needs  were  expressed  for 
information  on this  expenditure.  Some  internationally  comparable  information  will  be  shortly 
available from  the Community  'Continuing Vocational Training  Survey'. 

A need was expressed  for  indicators on the use of new technologies. 

34 

Training  expenditure  is  a  part  of  the  wider  concept  of  intangible  investments.  The  other 
elements  of  intangible  investments  are  R&D  expenditure,  marketing  expenditure  and  some 
other  elements  such  as  software  expenditure.  Information  on  these  was  also  requested. 
Surveys  of  intangible  investments  have  been  made  in  some  countries  and  guidelines  for  the 
compilation  of this information  are being drawn up by the OECD. 
Plans for the production of internationally  comparable statistics are not known. 

1.3 

Details from  national  reports 

In the  following,  details of the national  reports are presented  arranged  according  to six  groups 
of  indicators:  R&D  input,  R&D  output  and  impact,  innovation,  HRST,  regional  and  other 
indicators. 

1.3.1 

R&D input  indicators 

Austria: 
-  Need  for  a  reduction  of  R&D  survey  intervals  to  two  years  for  all  sectors.  Surveys  are 

currently  carried out at four-year  intervals owing to limited resources. 

-  Need  for  a breakdown of Chapter  10 of NABS by main scientific  disciplines. 

Belgium: 
The  level  of  breakdown  by  sector  should  be  more  disaggregated  and  focused  on  strategic 
sectors (electronics industry, chemistry, etc.) and services (telecommunications, health, etc.). 

Denmark: 
- 

Indicators  on  private-sector  R&D  expenditure,  employment  and  industry  are  regarded  as 
"important"  or even as "very  important". 

-  For the NABS  indicator  the impression  from  the survey  is that the  1-digit level  of detail  is 

a suitable and important indicator, which should be produced  rapidly. 

Finland: 
-  The main need for the future  is a shorter production  span for these statistics. 
-  R&D input indicators should be produced annually in order to get more up to date  figures. 

Germany^ 
-  Need  for  data  on  expenditure  on  basic  research  (Federal  spending  and  spending  at 
operational  level) and for data on third-tier spending by universities and research institutes. 
For the  future: 

-  There  is  a  growing  interest  in  international  data  on  "basic  expenditure"  and  in  cross-
fields  such  as  health  and 

(cross-sectoral  data 

in  specific 

sectoral 
biotechnology, but also environment, etc.). 

information 

-  Request also for data on R&D employment, broken down by sex. 

Greece: 
Need  for  statistics  on  public  R&D  funding;  collection  should  be  on  an  annual  basis, 
intramural  expenditure on a two-year basis. 

35 

Ireland: 
-  Need  for  statistics  on extra-mural  payments  for  R&D to third  parties  within  the  country, 

e.g. to the higher education sector, government laboratories or other companies. 

-  Need for data on the number of companies (however they are defined)  engaging in R&D. 
-  Need for data on government funding  of basic research. 
-  Need  for more  transparent  data on funding  by objectives  (this  is a reflection  of a  national 

rather than an international  requirement). 

-  Need  for  data  on  funding  of other  S&T activities  and not just  R&D (this  information  is 
collected at national level but is hampered by the lack of internationally  comparable data). 
-  Need  for  data  on  research  objectives  of  funds  going  to  the  higher  education  sector  for 

research. 

Netherlands: 
-  Need  for  more  detailed  data  on  R&D  and  innovation  expenditure  (broken  down  for 
instance  by  type  of research,  sources  of  funds,  sectors  involved,  disciplines,  policy  area, 
socio-economic fields, etc.). 

-  Need for more detailed data on government funding  (by sector). 

Norway: 
-  Need  for  aggregate  R&D data  (total  R&D personnel  in  FTE, total  R&D expenditure  as 
percentage  of GDP, sources of finance, and sectors  involved,  type of research  activity and 
field of science). 

-  Need  for  data  on  medical  sciences/health  research  and  social  sciences  and  also 

biotechnology  and environmental  sciences across sectors. 

-  Need  for  government  budget  appropriations  at  NABS  1-digit  level,  which  should  be 

published  rapidly. 

-  Need for data on R&D institutes in the business enterprise sector (non-integrated R&D). 
-  Need  for disaggregated  data  (branch-/micro  level)  linked  to other  technological  indicators 
and  economic  variables.  Data  for  both  manufacturing  and  service  industries  and  small 
enterprises are needed. 

Spain: 
-  Need for indicators on resources allocated to R&D: 

i)  for the business sector, by sector of economic activity (at NACE two-digit level), 
ii)  for other sectors (government, PNP) by field of science, 
iii)by origin of funds:  financing  from  abroad. Users are interested in knowing total  funds 

originating from  the EU, by country, sector, project, field of science, programme  (these 
data are requested  annually). 

-  Need  for  more  quantitative  information  (on  research  centres,  enterprises  with  R&D 
departments  or  laboratories,  existing  research  centres  in the European  Union,  S&T parks, 
R&D  co-operation  projects,  participation  in  R&D programmes,  technical  exchanges  and 
exchanges of staff, joint ventures, organisation of R&D departments. 

Sweden: 
Need  to  maintain  and  intensify  the  methodological  work  on  R&D in  the  higher  education 
sector. 

36 

United  Kingdom: 
-  Need for consistent definitions  of sectors in the various countries (for instance, treatment of 

CNRS in France). 

-  Need for statistics on funding  showing EU programmes  separately. 

1.3.2 

R&D output and impact indicators 

Austria: 
There  is  a recurrent  need  expressed  by  users  for  an  internationally  standardised  list  of  high-
tech sectors and products. 

Belgium: 
-  Need  for statistics on patents. 
-  New  needs  relating  to  the  development  of  the  innovation  process,  e.g.  dissemination  and 
application  of new knowledge, qualitative information  on research and innovation  and new 
technologies, role of SMEs and a better integration of R&D statistics in other statistics. 

-  Need for suitable indicators on technology  transfer. 

Denmark: 
-  Output indicators are less important. 
-  Bibliometric  analysis  is  expected  to  gain  increasing  importance,  provided  the  quality  and 

comparability  of data are improved. 

Finland: 
-  Need  for  more  exact  definitions  of bibliometric  and  patent  indicators, and  more  organised 

collection and processing of the related data. 

-  New  indicators  on  output  of  R&D  activities  should  be  developed  and  the  connection 
between  R&D  efforts  and  scientific/economic  success  should  be  better  covered  in  the 
future. 

Germany: 
-  Need for statistics on patents and in particularly for regional data on patents. 
-  There  is  currently  a  demand  for  national  and  international  data  on  trends  in  cross-border 

trade in technological  services. 

-  Bibliometric  indicators  are  of  importance  particularly  for  international  comparisons  of 
researcrTactivities  in  Germany.  The  future  level  of  demand  for  and  use  of  these  data  will 
depend  on  further  research  and  the  adoption  of  internationally  accepted  methodological 
guidelines. 

Greece: 
-  Need for indicators on technology  transfer. 
-  Need for bibliometric indicators and indicators on patents and high technology. 

Ireland: 
-  Need for information  on the outputs of investments in R&D. 
-  Need to develop indicators which measure the output of R&D in smaller economies. 
-  Need for TBP data. 
-  Need  to  develop  bibliometric  indicators  to  measure,  for  instance,  the  outputs  of  higher 

education  research. 

37 

Italy: 
Need  for  information  on  foreign  R&D  investments,  particularly  with  regard  to  industrial 
groups. 

Netherlands: 
-  Need  for  statistics  on  the  impact  of  R&D:  on  the  labour  market,  the  mobility  of 

researchers, exchange of knowledge. 

-  Need for output indicators (bibliometric, patents, etc.). 

Norway: 
-  Need for bibliometric data, data on R&D cooperation. 
-  Need for statistics/analysis of the impact of R&D on profitability  and growth, at aggregated 

and disaggregated  levels. 

-  Need for statistics on the impact on the quality of life (environment, life expectancy etc.). 
-  Need for analysis on research institutes (economic framework  conditions). 

Spain: 
-  Need for more information on patents than is provided by the OECD. 
-  Priority  should  be  given  to  constructing  a  basic  Community  system  of  output  indicators 
which could be connected with other indicators on input and economic impact. But there is 
also  a  need  for  equivalence  between  the  IPC18,  the  ISIC19,  the  SITC20  and  the  NACE  to 
allow comparisons between technology  on the one hand and production  and trade in goods 
on the other. 

Sweden: 
Bibliometric  indicators  and  data  on  patents  are  not  yet  widely  used;  users  expressed  an 
increased need for these kinds of international indicators. 

United Kingdom: 
The development  of output  indicators  was  strongly  supported  to measure  the effectiveness  of 
R&D  in  wealth  creation  and  improving. the  quality  of  life.  Example  of  indicators  needed: 
monitoring  new  products  announcements,  measures  of  the  volume  of  collaborative  research 
with  industrial  users. Impact indicators  of interest  are: high-tech trade data, patents, measures 
of  private/public  R&D  cooperation,  measures  of  quality  of  life  such  as  infant  mortality,  air 
quality, water purity, life  expectancy. 

1.3.3 

Innovation  indicators 

Austria: 
Austrian  users  need 
recommendations  in the Oslo manual and want to see the results of the first CIS evaluation. 

innovation  data  based  on 

internationally 

comparable 

the 

Denmark: 
Information  is required on barriers to and objectives  of innovation,  statistics on the sources  of 
innovation  and  expenditure  on  innovation,  need  to  include  information  on  environmental 
issues connected with innovation. 

IPC: International  Patent  Classification. 
ISIC: International  Standard Industrial  Classification. 

l; 
19 
2"  SITC: Standard  International  Trade  Classification. 

38 

Finland: 
Need  for  the  further  development  and  international  co-ordination  of  innovation  indicators  in 
the future  in order to produce consistent  figures. 

Germany: 
Need  for  internationally  comparable data in the industrial and services sectors. 

Ireland: 
-  Need  to  expand  the  scope  of  future  innovation  surveys  beyond  technological  innovation 

and include the services  sector. 

-  Need  to  capture  performance  data  about  the firm in order  to allow  discriminatory  analysis 

of innovators and non innovators. 

-  Need for  a reliable and valid means of quantifying  a firm's  "innovative  capacity". 

Italy: 
Need  for  indicators on technological  innovation. 

Netherlands: 
-  Need for  statistics on the dissemination of process innovations by sector of activity. 
-  Need  for  alternative indicators for the renewal processes in SMEs. 

Norway: 
-  Need for  input indicators on process innovation, i.e. cost of activities. 
-  Need  for  input  indicators  other  than  technological  innovation;  i.e.  cost  of  organisational, 

competence and market  development. 

-  Need for output  indicators on the process of R&D and Innovation. 

Spain: 
-  Need  for regular innovation surveys every second year. 
-  Need for  better harmonised  innovation surveys than CIS. 

1.3.4  HRST  indicators 

Austria: 
Need  for data on highly  skilled  labour force  (ISCED level 6 and  7) in all  scientific  disciplines 
(including  humanities). 

Denmark: 
-  Need for data on PhD students. 
-  Employment  should  be  specified  according  to,  for  example,  educational  background 

(academic or otherwise). 

-  Need for  statistics on education and mobility of researchers. 

Ireland: 
-  Need  for  statistics  on  mobility  of  HRST,  need  to  know  how  technology  is  transferred  by 
the  employment  of  HRST  in  industry  and  movements  of  HRST  between  different  sectors 
of the economy. The issue of the "brain drain" is also of concern. 

-  Need  for  information  on  employment  and  utilisation  of  HRST  with  ISCED  levels, greater 
than  5 analysed  by  ISCED  levels, the  number  of  HRST  who  qualify  as  such  by  virtue  of 
their occupation  rather than education, the employment of different  skills and disciplines  in 
industry. 

Italy: 
Need for data on researchers by country of origin and age. 

Netherlands: 
Need for comparable overviews of staff  quality and training. 

Norway: 
-  Need for  statistics on the mobility of researchers. 
-  Need for data on numbers and flows of different  types of academics. 
-  Need for  statistics on PhD degrees and PhD students by field of science. 
-  Need for  statistics on ISCED levels 6 and 7 by field of science. 
-  Need for  statistics on researchers by sector of performance,  sex and field of science. 

Portugal: 
Need for data on scientists and engineers by field of science. 

Spain: 
Need for HRST data broken down by sector, type of employment, age. sex, field of science, as 
well as inflows  from  the education system, from  abroad, and  outflows. 

Sweden: 
Need for data on exchange of researchers between countries. 

United  Kingdom: 
-  Need  for data on the flow of people from  higher education and research council  institutions 

into  industry. 

-  Need  for data on recruitment  and retention of S&T graduates. 

1.3.5 

Regional  indicators 

Austria: 
Austrian user requirements for regional R&D data at NUTS levels  1  and 2 will increase. 

Belgium: 
Need  for  more  comparable  statistics,  i.e.  for  similar  concepts  and  methods  in  data  collection 
and  disaggregated  statistics  at  sectoral 
to  standard 
classifications. 

level  and  by  regions  according 

40 

Denmark: 
Regional  data  both  for  the  private  and  public  sector  are  not  seen  as  very  important.  Roughly 
half of the users never use regional data or use it only for general  information. 

Netherlands: 
Need for  regional  R&D statistics of research  projects. 

Norway: 
-  Need  for data by funding  agencies/sources of finance. 
-  Need  for data on R&D centres. 
-  Need for data on mobility both inside a country and between countries. 

Portugal: 
Need  for  data  on  R&D  centres  and  enterprises  by  teclinology  sector  at  regional  level 
(NUTS 2, 3). 

Spain: 
All data available at national level should also be made available at regional  level. 

Sweden: 
Increasing  interest in regional statistics and globalisation  of R&D. 

1.3.6  Other indicators 

Austria: 
-  Need for nowcasting and forecasting  figures on R&D expenditure. 
-  Need  for  information  on the funding  of EU research  framework  programmes  ("flowback"), 
broken down by Member  State and field (scientific  discipline, technological  objective  etc.). 

Belgium: 
-  Nowcasting and forecasting  figures  on R&D expenditure. 
-  Need  for  a specific  deflator  for R&D investment. 

Denmark: 
-  Need forjnformation  on R&D cooperation. 
-  With respect to R&D appropriations  from  international  organisations, detailed  information 

on recipient countries, type of organisations and supported  projects. 

Finland: 
Need  for  statistics  on  the  internationalisation  of  R&D  activities  such  as  participation  in 
international  R&D programmes within the EU and other organisations. 

41 

France: 
-  Need for nowcasting figures  on R&D trends. 
-  Need  for  information  on  the  main  organizations  involved  in  R&D:  enterprises,  public 

institutes. 

-  Need  for  information  on policy  priorities  and actions taken  in the various  domains  relating 

to employment  policy and support. 

-  Need  for  information  on  programmes  and  support  from  different  public  institutes,  co 

ordination with international  programmes. 

-  Need to develop techniques of information,  like databases on R&D actors, in all countries. 

Germany: 
-  Need  for data on flowback  from  EU support programmes. 
-  Need  for comparable time series on the core variables. 

Ireland: 
-  Need  for  data on research collaboration  in terms of the contributions of partners in terms of 
time and money, the characteristics  and affiliations  of partners and initiators, the number of 
linkages established, the monetary  values of the collaboration, and further  outputs from  the 
collaboration. 

-  Need  for  data  on  the  diffusion  and  use  of  teclinology  in  companies  to  try  and  assess  the 

uptake and use of advanced technological procedures in industry. 

Italy: 
-  Need  for  rapid  and  more  comprehensive  information,  both  through  the  usual  media  and 
publication  in  financial  and  business  periodicals  and/or  meetings  and  ad  hoc  promotional 
events. 

-  Need  for  data  on  EU  projects  (research  and  financial  support,  indicators  on  participation, 

impact, quality,  efficiency). 

Netherlands: 
-  Need  for  annual  indicators  on  training  programmes  and  on-the-job  training,  relating  to 

R&D activities by sector of activity. 

-  Need  for data on the exchange of university  staff  and students. 
-  Need  for data on foreign  students. 
-  Need  for  data  on national  and  international  research  programmes  by  funding  organisation, 

co-ordinating  mechanism, participating organisation and type of research. 
-  Need  for data on EU R&D funding  to universities by type of programme. 

Norway: 
-  Need  for  data  on  globalisation,  expenditure  on  international  R&D  cooperation  projects  by 

source of  finance. 

-  Need  for  a  definition  of  the  information  technology  (IT)  industry,  by  industrial  activity 

classification  (NACE/ISIC). 
-  Need  for nowcasting  figures. 
-  Need  for  statistics on funding  EU framework  programmes, Norwegian  participation, etc. 

Portugal: 
Need  for  input and output indicators on the EC framework  programme. 

42 

Spain: 
Need  for 
investments". 

indicators  on 

training  and  other  expenditure  classified  under  "intangible 

Sweden: 
-  Need  for  figures  on  Swedish  participation  in  projects  and  programmes  under  the 
Framework  programme,  and comparisons  of participation  and financial  support  with  other 
European countries. 

-  Need for  studies on R&D done abroad by multinational  companies. 

United  Kingdom: 
-  Need  for  systematic  information  for  the  analysis  and  dissemination  of technology  and  the 
application  of  particular  technologies  in  different  countries.  A  technology  input/output 
database would be a useful  addition to OECD's STAN database. 

-  Need for R&D  deflators. 

2. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  SURVEY  ON  NEEDS  FOR  R&D  AND 
INNOVATION  STATISTICS IN COMMISSION  DEPARTMENTS 

The aim of the survey has been to evaluate the current and future  needs for  statistics on  R&D 
and  Innovation  amongst  all  users  in  the  Commission.  It  has  also  sought  to  identify  the 
technical barriers the users encounter when using such statistics. 

2.1 

Approach 

A  questionnaire21  was  sent  to  all  Directorates-General  and  some  other  units  which  covered 
three main areas: 

-  Current needs 
-  Future needs 
-  Technical matters related to the use of statistics 

Questions  dealt  with  the  importance  attributed  to  the  various  groups  of  indicators  proposed, 
with the types of breakdown  required, the appropriate  level  of detail, possible new indicators, 
data updating and forecasts, etc. 

2.2 

Analysis of the responses 

Three types of reaction could be  identified: 

•  Type I:  Respondents who completed the questionnaire 

•  Type II:  Respondents  who  stated  that  they  were  not  concerned  by  this  evaluation,  or  that 

they had no opinion to  offer; 

•  Type III:No reaction 

21  The questionnaire  is available from  unit D3 of Eurostat on request. 

43 

In the following  table, units are distributed according to these types. 

Type I 

DGI 
DG I-A 
DG II 
DG III 
DG IV 
DGVII 
DG XII 
JRC-IPTS 
DG XIII 
DGXV 
DG XVI 
DG XVII 
DG XXI22 
DG XXIII 

Type II 

DGV 
DG VIII 
DG IX 
DG XI 
DG XIV 
DGXX 

Type  III 

Forward Studies Unit 
DG VI 
DG X 
DG XVIII 
DG XIX 
DGXXII 

I 

| 

Each  unit  had  the  option  of  completing  as  many  questionnaires  as  it  wished  for  various 
subunits  or  individual  users.  Therefore,  the  numbers  of  completed  questionnaires  per  unit 
varied from  one to seven. 

Number of questionnaires completed by responding units: 

DG I and DG I-A 
DGII 
DG III 
DG IV 
DG VII 
DG XII 
JRC 
DG XIII 
DGXV 
DG XVI 
DG XVII 
DG XXIII 

7 
1 
3 
1 
1 
1 
6 
1 
2 
1 
1 
1 

2.3 

Analysis  of results 

2.3.1  Groups  of indicators deemed essential for the present 

From the data now  available, users regard  six sets as essential  for  their current work.  In  order 
of importance, these are: 

•  statistics on  innovation 

22  This DG didn't  fill  in exactly the questionnaire  but expressed  its needs in a detailed  letter. 

44 

•  statistics on trade in high-technology  products 

•  statistics on EC funding  of RTD & Innovation  programmes 

•  statistics on R&D expenditure  and R&D personnel 

•  statistics on technology  balance of payments 

•  statistics on government  R&D  appropriations 

Generally  speaking,  all  users  are  satisfied  with  the  level  of  detail  and  frequency  of  the  data 
available. 

2.3.2 

The level of disaggregation  required  by the Commission's  users 

For  most  indicators,  a  breakdown  by  year,  region  and  sector  is required.  All  users  stated  the 
need for regional indicators. Some specific  interests are mentioned  below: 

DG  I is interested  in having indicators on cross-border flows  of patents by main trade partner. 

DG  II  stated  that  indicators  on  innovation  should  be  broken  down  according  to  radical  and 
incremental  innovations. 

DG  III  stressed  the  need  to  get  indicators  broken  down  by  specific  sectors  like  information 
technology  (software,  hardware) and telecommunications, and by continent. 

DG  IV  would  like to  get  indicators  on  government  R&D  appropriations  broken  down  by  aid 
programme, and by type of recipient. 

DG XV indicated that patent indicators should be broken down by size of enterprises. 

2.3.3  Groups of indicators  deemed  essential for the  future 

This is nearly the same set of indicators as for current needs: 

•  statistics on trade in high-technology  products 

•  statistics on innovation 

•  statistics on EC funding  of RTD & I programmes 

•  statistics on R&D expenditure and R&D personnel 

•  statistics on technology  balance of payments 

•  statistics on government  R&D  appropriations 

45 

2.3.4  Need for new  indicators 

For  some  Commission  departments,  new  indicators  should  be  considered  by  Eurostat  in  the 
future,  in the following  areas: 

a)  Output and impact  indicators 

-  patent indicators relating to the origin of the owner, 

- 

indicators on different  forms  of protection other than patenting, 

-  bibliometric indicators like citations of Commission-funded  research property, 

-  TBP indicators as measures for  globalisation, 

- 

indicators on effectiveness  or productivity of R&D, 

- 

indicators on performance  of innovative energy technologies. 

b)  Innovation  indicators 

- 

indicators on links between innovation and dissemination  and technology  infrastructure. 

c)  Other  indicators 

- 

indicators on globalisation of R&D and  innovation, 

-  penetration indicators for specific  technologies,, 

- 

indicators on Commission-funded  RTD activities, 

- 

indicators on mobility and absorption of researchers. 

2.3.5  Updated  data and  forecasts 

They  are  required  for  all  sets  of  indicators  listed  in  the  questionnaires.  The  most  frequent 
period proposed  for  forecasts  is 5-10 years. 

2.3.6 

Technical  facilities 

The most frequent  supports used are publications and databases. The main  barrier  encountered 
by users when trying to get information  on R&D and innovation  is that existing information  is 
not complete. 

46 

3. 

CONCLUSIONS 
INNOVATION  INDICATORS  IN THE  COMMISSION 

FOR  DEVELOPMENT  OF  R&D  AND 

The national  reports on user needs and the survey of the Commission's  needs did  not come up 
with something  completely  new which has not been considered  in current  Eurostat  plans. One 
general  conclusion  might  be  that  Eurostat's  work  in the  field  is  not  sufficiently  well  known, 
either  in  the  Member  States  or  in  the  different  Commission  departments.  Nevertheless  some 
conclusions and suggestions for further  work could be drawn from  the reports and survey. 

In  the  development  of  a  methodological  framework  for  statistics  on  government  R&D 
appropriations  a  clear  distinction  could  be  made  between  production  of  rapid  results  from 
analysis  of  provisional  government  R&D  appropriations  at  NABS  1-digit  level,  based  on  an 
analysis  of the budget  itself and more detailed  survey-based  analysis  of  use of  appropriations 
at NABS 2 or 3-digit  level, which would be available at a later stage. 

Priority  should  be  given  to  improving  the  quality  of regional  breakdowns  of  the  main  R&D 
variables.  A  more  long-term  objective  is  the  régionalisation  of  other  R&D  and  innovation 
indicators. 

Priority  should  also  be  given 
Community-funded  research. 

to 

the  development  of 

the  system  of  statistics  on 

A revised  CIS  questionnaire  should  be developed  in close interaction  with  the  OECD  and  the 
next revision of the Oslo Manual. 

An integrated  concept of R&D and innovation  surveys should be developed  leading  to a legal 
framework  for  R&D  and  innovation  surveys.  This  could  also  cover  some  recommendations 
for  revision  of the methodology  for R&D surveys. These should  be discussed  with the  OECD 
in connection with the next revision of the Frascati Manual. 

In  connection  with  the  development  of  the  statistical  system  on  HRST,  attention  should  be 
paid to include as soon as possible some indicators on the mobility of researchers. 

A  feasibility  study  should  be  made  on  the  possibilities  for  collecting 
comparable_data on the R&D activities of multinational  companies in different  countries. 

internationally 

Inclusion  of  some  data  on  patents  and  trade  in  high-technology  products  in  future  Eurostat 
publications. 

Marketing  of  Eurostat's  work  and  products  in  the  field  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics 
should be improved. 

47 

eurostat 

ANNEX III 

Statistical Information  on R&D and Innovation 

Available in the Member States of the 

European Economic Area (and  Switzerland) 

Executive Summary of 
the Final Report 

48 

increase  in  the  contribution  of  Research  and 
During  recent  decades,  a  considerable 
Technology  to  the  socio-economic  development  of  the  countries  has  become  apparent.  This 
trend  is expected  to continue  in  the future.  As a result, the  interest  of  the  various  countries  in 
the  measurement  of  Research  and  Technology  activities  is  also  increasing,  with  more  and 
more  human  and  financial  resources  being  allocated  for  this  purpose.  The  need  for 
quantification  of  the  research  and  development  effort  has  lead  to  the  creation  of  special 
systems  producing  quantitative  data and to the assignment  of the  necessary  data  collection  to 
specific  institutions. 

The present study attempts to thoroughly  investigate and present the different  systems used by 
the European  Community  and  EFTA  Member  States for  the  measurement  and  data  collection 
of  their  research  and  technology  activities.  More  precisely,  the  study  concentrates  on  the 
common  data collection  systems, the common  R&D data  collected  and  the  users  for  different 
data/information  collected. 

In order to carry  out  the  study, eleven questionnaires  were  designed  for  each  of the  following 
R&D  subjects: 

*  public  financing, 
*  the government  sector, 
*  the higher education  sector, 
*  the private non-profit  sector, 
*  the business enterprise  sector, 
*  innovation, 
*  technological  balance of payments, 
*  patents, 
*  high technology, 
*  competitiveness, 
*  bibliometrics. 

All  the  necessary  parameters  were  included  in  the  questionnaires  (which  were  produced  in 
French and English) in order to cover the scope of the study described  above. After  a thorough 
investigation,  which  started  with  a first contact  with  the  national  statistical  institutes  and  the 
Ministries  of  Research  and  Technology  of  all  the  Member  States,  the  experts  in  each  of  the 
above  subjects  were  identified.  The  questionnaires  were  addressed  to  them  and  responses 
were received  by R&D  subject  and  member «state. One hundred  and  eighty  six  (186)  answers 
were received  out of the one hundred and ninety eight (198) expected,  representing  a response 
rate of 94%. 

The  analysis  of  the  data  collected  was  carried  out  in  the  first  instance  vertically,  i.e.  within 
each subject.  The responses of all the Member  States were analysed,  compared  and  presented. 
This part of the analysis contains most of the information  received  including any details worth 
mentioning. 

Secondly,  a  horizontal  analysis  was  performed,  where  the  complete  system  for  R&D  data 
collection  of  each  member  state  is presented.  This  second  part  of  the  analysis  is  much  more 
concise to avoid  having to repeat  information  already given. 

49 

Owing  to  the  great  variety  of  information  included  in  the questionnaires  and  the  complexity  of 
the  subject  as  a  whole,  it  was  decided  to  present  each  subject  following  the  general  structure 
of  each  questionnaire  and  analysing  groups  of  questions  investigating  the  specific  parts  of 
each  subject.  Tables  referring  to  one  or  more  questions  were  used  to  summarise  the  responses 
by  member  state. 

The  general  impression  obtained  from  the  analysis  of  the  information  received  is  positive  for 
all  the  Member  States.  Almost  all  the  countries  have  a  central  body  responsible  for 
coordinating  R&D  data  collection.  They  more  or  less  follow  the  international  methodology 
and  practice  as described  in the relevant  manuals. 

The  subject  of  innovation  in  enterprises  is  fairly  new.  As  a  result,  the  necessary  infrastructure 
for  measuring  the  subject  does  not  always  exist.  However,  in  general  all  Member  States  are 
oriented  positively  towards  applying  the  appropriate  methodology  developed  recently  by  the 
OECD. 

The  two  subjects  of  technology,  TBP  and  Patents,  are  not  usually  covered  by  a  special  data 
collection.  The  countries  rely  on  the  data  provided  by  the  usual  responsible  bodies,  i.e.  the 
Central  Banks  and  the  Patents  Offices.  Ireland  and  the  United  Kingdom  are  the  only  Member 
States  that  have  special  data  collection  for  the coverage  of these two  subjects. 

The  two  levels  of  coverage  for  the  TBP  subject  result  from  the  fact  that  some  countries  record 
only  the  payments  and  not  the  revenue  from  technological  transactions.  Also,  Ireland  reports 
some  concern  at  the  quality  of  the  data  produced  from  the  survey  which  they  have  to  conduct 
in  order  to  measure  TBP,  as  these  data  are  not  provided  by  the  Central  Bank  since  they  are 
confidential.  Generally  the  fact  that  the  TBP  data  are  usually  a by-product  of  an  authority  not 
dedicated  to  such  a  collection  of  data  explains  the  discrepancies  from  the  suggested  OECD 
approach. 

Finally,  it  must  be  noted  that  no  member  state  seems  to  consider  any  changes  with  respect  to 
the  TBP  following  the  establishment  of the  Single  Internal  Market  in  1993. 

The  Patents  data  are  very  similar  for  all  the  Member  States  and  are  published  by  the  relevant 
international  organisations  (EPO,  WIPO  etc.)  basically  analysed.  No  system  seems  to  exist  for 
evaluating  patents  in the  Member  States  except  a descriptive  one  in  Belgium. 

The  High  Technology  subject  seems  to  involve  a number  of the  countries  which  have  research 
teams  actively  studying  it  and  producing  quite  advanced  papers.  Obviously  some  of  the 
Member  States  are  not  involved  at  all  with  the  measurement  of  High  Technology  as  they  are 
still  too  involved  in  developing  the  subject  as  such.  Germany  is  the  only  country  producing  a 
regular  HT  report,  while  Italy  is  considering  starting  the  regular  production  of  an  HT  report 
from  the  beginning  of  1992. 

A  situation  similar  to  that  of  High  Technology  applies  to  the  subject  of  Competitiveness. 
About  half  of 
the  measurement  of 
Competitiveness,  while  others  are  considering  starting  work  on the  subject. 

the  Member  States  are  actively 

involved  with 

50 

Finally,  as  regards  Bibliometrics,  which  is  a  subject  only  very  recently  developed,  most 
Member  States  do not  possess the  necessary  infrastructure  to  produce  regular  statistical  data. 
However,  a lot of research  work  is carried  out on the methodology  of the subject,  and  quite a 
few  specific  studies  have  been  produced  by  some  of  the  countries.  It  must  be  noted  that  no 
country  has developed  a national  bibliometrics  database, and all the work  carried  out  is based 
on  data  extracted  from  the  well-known  international  databases.  France  is  the  only  member 
state in the EC that plans to produce a regular bibliometrics report every  six months. 

51 

eurostat 

ANNEXIV 

First considerations  about a future legal basis for regular R&D 

and innovation surveys in the European  Union 

52 

1. 

Reasoning  for  a legal  framework 

There are several  arguments  for a legal  framework: 

A  legal  framework  would  give  the  whole  field  of  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  a  higher 
status  and  a  priority  in  the  allocation  of  money  both  at  the  national  level  and  at  the 
Community  level; 

Users  need  consistent  and  comparable  information  on  R&D  and  non-R&D  factors  in  the 
innovation  process. This  requires  that  R&D  and  innovation  surveys  are  harmonised  as  far  as 
possible; 

Separate  systems  for  R&D  and  innovation  surveys  increase  the  response  burden  for 
enterprises, which in the long run will hamper the development of both surveys; 

The  draft  Regulation  on  structural  business  statistics,  in  particular  the  module  for  structural 
statistics  in  industry,  already  includes  an  obligation  to  supply  annual  information  by 
NACE Rev. 1  4-digit  classes  in  mining,  manufacturing,  electricity  and  gas  supply  and 
construction  on  total  R&D  expenditure  and  total  R&D  personnel.  The  Regulation  also  gives 
the  authority  to  collect  other  information  on  R&D  and  imiovation.  These  variables  could  be 
defined  in more detail in a separate module which could be an annex to the  Regulation. 

2. 

Extension  of the  scope 

One  could  of  course  discuss  if  the  framework  should  have  a  still  larger  scope,  i.e.  should 
cover  the  whole  range  of  science  and  technology  indicators,  not  only  business  surveys  on 
R&D  and  innovation.  These  other  indicators  include  patents,  bibliometrics,  technological 
balance  of  payments  and  trade  in  high  tech  products.  Even  if  the  Council  Decision  on  the 
establishment  of  a  multiannual  program  for  the  development  of  Community  statistics  on 
research,  development  and  innovation  covers  the  whole  range  of  indicators,  it  seems  to  be 
difficult  to  include  them  all  in  a  single  legal  framework,  at  least  in  the  short  run.  The 
in  terms  of  sources,  degree  of  development  or 
indicators  are  rather  heterogeneous 
harmonisation.  The need for such a broad framework  does not seem to be very obvious for  the 
moment. Therefore  it is proposed, that the legal framework  in the short run  should cover  only 
business  surveys  on  R&D  and  innovation.  The  regulation  on  structural  business  statistics 
covers  in principle  also  sections  M to  O of NACE  Rev. 1 (education,  health  and  social  work, 
other  community  and  social  service  activities),  which  in  some  Member  States  are  partly  or 
wholly  run  by  Government  bodies  and  financed  by  the  Government  budget.  Data  collection 
from  units  of  these  sections  might  follow  later.  The  proposed  legal  framework  for  R&D  and 
innovation  surveys  could  therefore  in  principle  also  cover  activities  in  these  sections.  To 
achieve  conformity  with  the  sectors  in  the  Frascati  manual  and  existing  practise,  general 
administration  (section L) has to be included as well. 

53 

3. 

Problems  to  be solved 

To  decide  which  variables  should  be  covered  by  (he  legislation  and  what  should  be  the 
frequency  of harmonised  data collection at the Community level. 

In  many  Member  States  detailed  data  on  R&D  have  until  now only  been  made  available  for 
every  second  year.  Data  on  innovation  have  until  now  been  collected  at  an  ad  hoc  basis  at 
even  longer  intervals.  In  the  future,  there  seems  to  be  a need  for  annual  data  by  industry  on 
some  core  variables  on  R&D  and  innovation,  both  on  the  Community  level  and  on  the 
national  level.  The  regulation  on  structural  business  statistics  already  includes  a  request  for 
annual  data  on  R&D  personnel  and  R&D  expenditure.  This  core  could  be  extended  to  some 
general innovation  indicators. 

It is suggested  that  the more detailed  R&D  indicators such as expenditure  by typg and  source 
of  funds  and  R&D  personnel  by  occupation  or  qualification  as  well  as  the  regional 
breakdowns  still  are  collected  for  every  second  year.  Thus,  present  practise  concerning 
detailed R&D surveys in many Member  States would not change. Assuming  that the efforts  to 
make  the  question  on  innovation  expenditure  work  in the  future  succeed,  it  is  suggested  that 
information  on innovation expenditure  should be collected for every second year in the  future. 

The  Oslo  manual  includes  a  lot  of  other  variables  on  innovation  such  as  objectives  of 
innovation,  sources  of  information  for  innovation,  barriers  of innovation,  R&D  co-operation, 
teclinology transfer,  patents, etc. As distributions according to these variables are not  expected 
to change quickly,  it is probably  enough to have information  on these on an ad hoc basis or at 
least not more  frequently  than  with  four  years' intervals. As the field of  innovation  surveys  is 
new and not yet  fully  established,  flexibility  is suggested  for  Member  States to  include  these 
or other variables  in innovation  surveys according to their own needs and recommendations  in 
international  standards. 

Finding an appropriate  survey structure  in the Member States 

When  the  variables  required  and  the  frequency  of  data  collection  has  been  determined,  an 
appropriate  survey  structure  has to be found  in Member  States. The  legal  framework  will  not 
propose  anything  on that, but these  practical  aspects have to be considered  in the  preparation 
process. 

Harmonisation  of  surveys 

Innovation  surveys  have  developed  rather  independently  from  R&D  surveys  which  might  be 
due  to the  fact  that  in many  countries  these  surveys have  been  made  by  different  institutions. 
Even if the methodological  frameworks  are intended  to be rather consistent  a legal  framework 
for  R&D  and  innovation  statistics  requires  a  closer  integration  of  the  two  types  of  surveys 
than now. 

54 

4. 

Implications of the legal framework  for the Member States 

R&D  surveys 

-  necessity to perform  them in all countries at least every second year 
-  adjustment  to recommended  target population 
-  probably  addition of some few questions on innovation 
-  development  of the regional aspect of R&D surveys 

Innovation  surveys 

-  necessity  to perform  them in all countries at least every second year 
-  adjustment  to recommended  target population 
-  make  R&D  information  from  innovation  surveys  consistent  with  the  information  from 

R&D surveys, if necessary  include questions on R&D expenditure and personnel 

-  adjust  survey  contents to revisions of international  standards 

5. 

Some other questions 

The transmission  of data to Eurostat has to be co-ordinated  with the already  existing  reporting 
scheme to the OECD to avoid separate reporting to both organisations by Member  States. The 
time  delay  of  data  transfer  could  be  18 months  after  the  end  of  the  reference  year  as  in  the 
module  for  structural  statistics  in  industry.  The  same module  also  asks  for  a quality  measure 
related to a confidence  level of 95%. Such a measure could might be applicable  also for  R&D 
and innovation  statistics. 

55 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(96) 42 final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

17 

Catalogue number  :  CB-CO-96-055-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-00236-4 

Office  for Official Publications of the European Communities 

L-2985 Luxembourg