How consistent are innovation indicators?: a factor analysis of CIS data

Alfred Kleinknecht, Kees van Montfort and Erik Brouwer

No 28, Serie Research Memoranda from VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics

Abstract: We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of five alternative innovation indicators: R&D, patent applications, total innovation expenditure and shares in sales taken by imitative and by innovative products as they were measured in the 1992 Community Innovation Survey (CIS) in the Netherlands. We conclude that the two most commonly used indicators (R&D and patent applications) have more (and more severe) weaknesses than is often assumed. Moreover, our factor analysis suggests that there is little correlation between these indicators. This underlines the empirical relevance of various sources of bias of innovation indicators as discussed in this paper.

Keywords: R&D; innovative output; total innovation expenditure; patents; factor analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O33 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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