Strengthening innovation measurement practice in firm-level surveys: New methodological imperatives
INVITATION AND AGENDA HSRC Seminar Series
24 November 2021 | 15h00 – 17h00 (SAST)
Business innovation surveys are commonly used by both state and non-state actors to understand fi rm dynamics and to generate evidence in support of economic and innovation policy mixes. Where business innovation surveys follow the subject-based approach (OECD, 2018), as is predominantly the case, representative information on both the scale and types of innovation at firm-level as well as the drivers of and barriers to innovation, can be produced and analysed. Recent analysis, however, points to substantial measurement error risks in fi rm-level innovation surveys (Cirera & Muzi, 2020; Arundel et al, 2013). With a focus on recent empirical work using World Bank (WB) Enterprise Survey data, as well as a recent WB technology adoption survey, this seminar will delve into the issue of innovation measurement error, as well as key methodological imperatives that performers of fi rm-level innovation surveys can consider in improving survey performance. Discussant refl ections will incorporate the experiences from South African Business Innovation Surveys, performed by the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CeSTII), since the early 2000s.
This seminar is open to survey practitioners and scholars of innovation indicators, and equally to users of innovation data for policy making or programming. For more information or to contact the organisers please write to gralphs@hsrc.ac.za.
