Flash Eurobarometer 343 (Impact and Perception of the Public Sector Innovation among Companies)

Perception and impact of innovation in public services among companies.<br>Topics: introduction of innovations in the company since the beginning of 2009; percentage of the company’s turnover in 2011 due to innovative goods and services introduced since January 2009; frequency of use of selected public services for businesses since January 2009: training programmes for employees, obtaining work permits for foreign workers, health and safety issues, environment related permits and obligations, applying for research or innovation subsidies, applying for patents or trademarks, conformity certification for new products; assessment of the improvement of public services for businesses in the past three years; perception of the introduction of the following services since January 2009: option to complete government forms over the internet, reduction in time and effort to complete government forms, access to information on government services over the internet, reduction in time required for permits and licences, faster response time for government services, reduction in financial costs for the company; assessment of the impact of the aforementioned new services on the way the company uses public services; improvement of public services for businesses due to innovation; impact of public services innovations on own business in terms of: time spent, quality of information and advice, quality of administrative procedures, costs, response time from public sector, level of personnel’s skills thanks to public education and training programmes; assessment of the most innovative level of government: municipal/local, regional/sub-national, national, EU; approval of the following statements: public services create right conditions for companies to innovate, regulatory and fiscal system promotes ability of companies to innovate, possibility for companies to cooperate with public research organisations on innovation projects, sufficient equipment of staff by public education and training system with skills needed for innovation; approval of the following statements regarding the support for innovation from public services: provision of high quality information and advice, easily available information and advice, simple procedures to obtain financial support, well targeted government programmes; assessment of the necessity for public services to become more innovative; activities of the company regarding public procurement since the beginning of 2009: won at least one public procurement contract, submitted at least one tender without success, investigated opportunities without submitting a tender; efforts of the company since January 2009 to sell own innovations to the government; higher significance of price versus innovation in winning public tenders for goods or services.

Demography: information about the company: size, number of employees (full-time equivalent) at present, year of establishment; takeover by or merging with another company since the beginning of 2006; percentage of the company’s turnover in 2011 sold in: the own country, other EU countries (plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Lichtenstein); development of the company’s turnover in 2011 compared to 2009; percentage of employees with a university degree in 2011.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country; NACE CODE; nation group; weighting factor.