The Community Innovation Survey

The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) is a survey conducted every 4 years by EU member states that allows the monitoring of Europe’s progress in the area of innovation. The UK Innovation Survey will take place in 2005, and this will provide the UK data covering 2002-2004 for the fourth Community Innovation Survey (CIS 4).

Business innovation is a vital ingredient in raising the productivity, competitiveness and growth potential of modern economies. Providing the right economic conditions for, and using appropriate policy instruments to encourage innovation in the UK is a central objective for the DTI. Measuring the level of innovation activity in the UK and identifying where policy might be best targeted contributes to the pursuit of that objective. The Community Innovation Survey complements other indicators of innovativeness by providing a regular snapshot of innovation inputs and outputs and the constraints faced by UK businesses in their innovation efforts, across the range of UK industries and business enterprises. It has the additional benefit of providing the basis for some comparisons with other European countries.

The survey includes sections on factors that hamper innovation, the impact of innovation on the business and the sources of information used. It also touches on aspects of the wider innovation process, such as the introduction of new management techniques.

The last Community Innovation Survey, CIS 3, took place in 2001, and CIS 2 was in 1997. Analyses of the results of these surveys can be found below:

Detailed results from the Third UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS3) (1110KB)

International Comparisons of the Third Community Innovation Survey (357 KB)

Industrial Breakdown of the UK Innovation Survey 2001 (584 KB)

Regional Innovation Performance in the UK (1,283 KB)

Regional Breakdown of the UK Innovation Survey 2001 (610 KB)

UK Innovation Survey 2001 (CIS3) Results (34 KB)

Comparison of the 2nd and 3rd Community Innovation Surveys (79 KB)

3rd Community Innovation Survey Questionnaire (538 KB)

Results from the 2nd Community Innovation Survey (127 KB)