Typology of the European Union Countries in Terms of Barriers Hampering Innovation Activities – the Perspective of Innovative Enterprises

Abstract

The enterprises undertaking innovation activities in the European Union countries operate in a diverse environment, not always friendly to innovation processes. They are influenced by a number of internal and external factors constituting barriers for the implementation of innovations. As a result of diverse conditions for the development of innovation in the EU countries, the individual barriers to innovation processes may be of different significance for enterprises. The first part of the study presents an overview of the subject literature output focused on the systematics of key factors hampering or preventing the activities aimed at the implementation of innovation (e.g. deterrent and disclosed barriers, internal and external and also economic, knowledge-related, market and institutional ones). The second part discusses the results of empirical research focused on verifying the adopted hypothesis – the key barriers to innovation activities of enterprises in the EU countries create cost factors and their disclosure, along with other barriers, results in the interruption of innovation processes in their implementation phase (high intensity of obstacles to innovation activities is manifested in low values of the aggregate innovation indicator). The European Innovation Scoreboard data and the research results covering innovative enterprises as part of the last edition of the Community Innovation Survey constituted the information basis of the conducted analyses. The research used multi-dimensional statistical analysis methods, with particular emphasis on the classification methods.