In Serbia, in the period from 2020 to 2022, slightly more than half of the companies introduced at least one product or process innovation. The highest representation of business entities-innovators is in the accommodation and catering services sector (64.5 percent) and in the wholesale and retail trade and motor vehicle repair sector (61 percent), while the lowest representation of innovators is in the mining sector (23.3 percent). , data from the Republic Institute of Statistics show.
More than 67 percent of large business entities are innovative, about 56 percent of medium-sized business entities, while among small business entities, about 50 percent are innovative.
The biggest share in the total expenses for the innovative activities of companies, as much as 80 percent, are the costs for the purchase of machines and equipment, while the remaining 20 percent is invested in all other activities (marketing, employee training, product design, software development).
The data also show that the income structure of “innovators” is actually dominated by the sale of unchanged or marginally changed products, with over 80 percent of total income.
The share from the sale of products/services that are new to the business entity and the share from the sale of products/services that are new to the market therefore collectively amounts to about 20 percent.
The data published by RZS represent the result of research on innovative activities in business entities from 2020 to 2022.
In the research, innovative business entities are defined as business entities that introduced a product or process innovation in the observed period, or had innovations that were abandoned or not yet completed.
Expenditures for innovative activities include investments in the development of new products, investments in the introduction of a new product to the market, funds aimed at significant improvement of existing products, services or processes, as well as funds for innovation projects that have not yet been completed.
The research included the following expenses of business entities: procurement of machines, equipment, buildings and other material assets; marketing, brand building, advertising (including internal costs and procured services); training of own employees (including all internal costs that include employees’ wages during training, and costs of services procured from others), product design (including internal costs and procured services), software development, work on databases and data analysis..
Research on the innovation of business entities was conducted on the basis of a representative sample. The sample was allocated on the territory of Serbia up to the regional level, proportionally to the number of business entities. The sample consists of 3,695 small, medium and large business entities.
Sign up for business updates & specials
