Innovation activity in Cypriot enterprises has recorded a decrease during the period 2004-2006 compared to the period 2002-2004.
According to the results of the Innovation Survey carried out by the Statistical Service (CyStat) among enterprises with 10 or more employees, 39.6% of Cypriot enterprises had some form of innovation activity during the period 2004 – 2006. Among industrial enterprises, this proportion stood at 46.3% compared to 33.5% in the services sector. The corresponding figures recorded in the previous similar survey, which referred to the period 2002 – 2004, were 46.1% for all enterprises, 53.2% for industry and 37.9% for the sector of services.
The Survey released by CyStat shows that with regard to the size – class breakdown, the larger the enterprise the more likely it was to have had some form of innovation activity during the period: 35.0% for enterprises employing 10 – 49 persons, 56.7% for enterprises with 50 – 249 employees and 82.1% for enterprises with 250 and more employees.
A 69.7 percent of all enterprises with innovation activity expressed the opinion that innovation had a high impact on improving their production flexibility. About 62.5% reported a high impact on increasing their production capacity and 57.5% on improving the quality of their goods and services. A 55.9 per cent reported that innovation had a significant contribution to the fulfillment of regulatory requirements, while a 45.3% reported a high impact on increasing the range of their goods or services. Another 38.0% reported an impact on reducing environmental after-effects or improving health and safety, 37.9% on entering new markets or increasing their market share, 29.2% on reducing labour costs per unit output and 19.9% on reducing materials and energy cost per unit output.
Among enterprises with no innovation activity, the main factor reported as having a high degree of impact on hampering innovation or influencing a decision not to innovate was by 32.2%the existence of prior innovations. The absence of demand for innovations followed with 30.8%, while other factors were the high costs (20.6%), the uncertain demand for innovative goods or services (16.0%), the lack of funds within the enterprise (15.4%), the lack of finance from sources outside the enterprise (13.3%), the lack of qualified personnel (12.8%) and others.
