Press release 14/12/2009

SURVEY ON TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION – EIT 2008

41.2% of companies with 10 and more employees carried out technological or non-technological innovation in the Basque Country between 2006 and 2008

27.4% of Basque companies with 10 or more employees implemented non-technological innovation (organisational or commercial)

Between 2006 and 2008, 20.8% of companies were innovators in the Basque Country, according to Eustat data. This percentage was obtained taking into account non-technological innovation, implemented by 12.9% of all companies, along with technological innovation (15.0%). Taking into account only companies with 10 and more employees, the percentage of innovative companies came to 41.2%.

While the technological innovation may be for a product (a new or notably improved item or service, released on the market) or a process (implementation when establishing a new or notably improved process), non-technological innovation consists of organisational or commercial innovations.

Organisational innovation consists of implementing new organisational methods in the internal running of the company and this is the case of 10.7% of Basque companies, while commercial innovation is the execution of new commercial strategies or concepts that are significantly different from previous ones and which have not been used before and this is the case of 7.3% of all the companies in the Autonomous Community.

With regard to companies with 10 or more employees, a comparable size with other statistics entities (INE, EUROSTAT, etc.), 41.2% of them implemented some type of innovation in the period in question. In Spain, the percentage was 34.8% for the same period.

This figure (41.2%) was reached by taking into account that 315% of these companies carry out technological innovation and 27.4% non-technological innovation.

The figure for non-technological innovation, and for this size of company, was obtained as 23.6% implemented organisational innovations and 12.3% commercial innovations.



It should also be pointed out that if only companies with innovation underway or failed, the so-called EIN companies, are taken into account, the percentage of innovative companies with 10 and more employees came to comes to 42.9%.

Methodology note: The Innovation Survey, carried out by Eustat, is aimed at Basque companies of any size and any activity sector, except the primary one, public administration and domestic service. The survey is based on a representative sample of 3,400 establishments located in the Basque Country.

For further information:

Basque Statistics Office C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Tlf:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.es Contact: José Miguel Escalada Tlf:+34-945-01 75 96 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 Online press releases: www.eustat.es