| Innovation activities involve enterprises in various scientific, technical, organisational, financial and commercial activities that lead or are intended to lead to the implementation of innovation. Some of these actions are innovative, while others are not new, but necessary to implement innovation. Innovation activities also include research and experimental development (R&D) activities that are not directly linked to the creation of a specific innovation.
The innovative activity of an enterprise during a given period can be of three types: activities successfully completed with the implementation of innovation; on-going activities that have not yet led to the implementation of the innovation and activities discontinued prior to the implementation of the innovation.
The Innovation Survey is based on an international methodology (Oslo Manual).
Financial outlays incurred for innovative activities in product and process innovation shall include outlays incurred in a given year for:
- purchase of knowledge from external sources in the form of patents, unpatented inventions (solutions), designs, utility and industrial models, licenses, disclosures of know-how, trademarks and technical services related to the implementation of product and process innovations;
- purchase of software related to the implementation of product and process innovations;
- purchase and installation of machinery and technical equipment, purchase of means of transport, tools, instruments, movables, equipment and expenditure on the construction, extension and modernisation of buildings for the implementation of product and process innovations;
- staff training related to innovation activities from the design phase to the marketing phase (both expenditure on the acquisition of external training services and expenditure on in-house training);
- marketing of new or significantly improved products (expenditure on preliminary market research, market testing and advertising of new or significantly improved products introduced to the market);
- research and development (R&D) related to the development of new or significantly improved products and processes, carried out by own development facilities or acquired from other entities;
- other preparations for product or process innovation (e.g. feasibility studies), testing and evaluation of new or significantly improved products and processes, standard software development and improvement, instrumentation, engineering and preparatory work.
The innovation study takes into account all expenditure on current and investment product and process innovations, incurred in the reporting year for works that were successful (i.e. implementation of innovations), not completed (continued) and discontinued or abandoned, regardless of the sources of their financing.
Gross fixed capital formation is expenditure that increases the value of fixed assets (including livestock growth — basic herd). They do not include expenditures that are the first equipment of the investment and interest on investment loans for the period of implementation of the investment.
The account shall also include: a) expenditure incurred on repairs of fixed assets, b) increase in intangible assets (intended for use for more than 1 year), which include, among others: acquisition costs of property rights, in particular copyrights (including computer software), rights to projects, inventions, patents, trademarks, licenses, costs of completed development works, goodwill. |
