CORDIS Archive

The European Innovation Monitoring System (EIMS)

The EIMS was launched in the early 1990s under the SPRINT Programme with the aim of providing firms, intermediaries, academics and policy makers with information, analysis and research on the factors shaping, promoting and inhibiting innovation at company level across Europe.

In the meantime, the EIMS activities have been integrated in the Innovation and SMEs Programme. Here, the activities in the field of "Innovation policy studies" continue to provide policy-makers at European and national level with key research on all aspects of innovation.

EIMS launched the following activities:

• The monitoring of innovation and diffusion
  This was conducted through surveys and studies on themes such as the innovative capabilities and performances of firms, the scale, scope, usage and performance of innovation infrastructures and innovation supporting services, the identification of obstacles and impediments to the dissemination of technologies, as well as the effects of public action supporting innovation infrastructures and innovating firms.

  This work encompassed both innovation studies based on data already available which provide "state-of-the-art" empirical overviews, as well as the collection and processing of new data on innovation in Europe, in close collaboration with EUROSTAT.

• Work on the conceptual framework of the innovation process
  Activities here focussed on models and theories of innovation processes and on the acquisition of technological competence from external sources, on conceptualising innovation infrastructures and the diffusion of new technologies. The objective was to formulate concepts, which can be used to guide empirical research and guide future development, and to the development of methodologies and codes of best practice.

• The innovation policy experience exchange
  Drawing on conclusions derived from the work referred to above, the innovation policy experience exchange aimed at improving the synergies and the overall efficiency of policies implemented at regional, national and European levels. This was done by the exchange of good practice, the assessment of the role of regions, Member States and the Community in formulating and executing innovation policy, the assessment of existing as well as future Community actions and the scope for concerted actions.

EIMS projects used desk research, surveys and case study methodologies. Details can be found under "EIMS studies". Data collection and analyses were performed by pan-European teams from universities, research institutes and consultancy firms. Participating institutions are shown under "EIMS contractors". The large scale Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data collection, in-depth case studies and quantitative surveys contributed further to research on public policies and on the innovation process itself.

Policy makers in the Member States and in the Commission have been the main target group for EIMS work, raising the profile of both the innovative activities of firms and the role of public programmes and of intermediaries, strengthening the base of available knowledge. Practitioners and managers of intermediary functions in the technology transfer process have been another main target group for an important part of EIMS work. This has complemented other exploratory studies, experiments and services initiated by the Commission.

The diffusion of results has been mainly based on publications, workshops and conferences organised with the participation of the main actors from the innovation and knowledge system: managers, policy makers, academics and enterprises.