Innovation indicators: a survey of innovative activities in the international food processed industry

This paper seeks to combine traditional methods of measuring intensity with other alternative indicators to examine the dispersion of innovation activities in different industries and countries. The hypothesis that underlies the study lies in the fact that in the Food Processed Industry (IAP) the traditional methods are insufficient to detect the core of the innovation process. As method, we analyzed patent data extracted from the twenty-five largest food processed companies in the world and suggested different indicators developed from the Pesquisa de Inovacao Tecnologica (PINTEC, 2010) - for Brazilian companies - and the Community Innovation Survey (CIS, 2009) - for European Union companies. The results allowed us to establish relationships in three dimensions: (i) the complexity of the innovative effort of the IAP; (ii) the efforts to innovation in different countries are distinct and; (iii) there is heterogeneity in country performance.Este artigo procura combinar métodos tradicionais de medição de intensidade tecnológica com outros indicadores alternativos para examinar a dispersão das atividades inovativas na indústria e em diferentes países. A hipótese que sustenta o estudo reside no fato de que nas indústrias tradicionais, como a de alimentos processados (IAP), os métodos tradicionais são insuficientes para detectar o processo de inovação em sua totalidade. Como método, foram analisados os dados de patentes extraídos das 25 maiores empresas de alimentos processados do mundo e propostos diferentes indicadores elaborados a partir da Pesquisa de Inovação Tecnológica – Pintec (IBGE, 2010) – empresas brasileiras – e da Community Innovation Survey – CIS (EUROSTAT, 2009) – países da União Europeia. Os resultados permitiram estabelecer relações em três dimensões: (i) a complexidade do esforço inovativo da IAP; (ii) os esforços para a inovação nos diferentes países são distintos; e (iii) existe heterogeneidade no desempenho dos países141135162This paper seeks to combine traditional methods of measuring intensity with other alternative indicators to examine the dispersion of innovation activities in different industries and countries. The hypothesis that underlies the study lies in the fact that in the Food Processed Industry (IAP) the traditional methods are insufficient to detect the core of the innovation process. As method, we analyzed patent data extracted from the twenty-five largest food processed companies in the world and suggested different indicators developed from the Pesquisa de Inovação Tecnológica (PINTEC, 2010) – for Brazilian companies – and the Community Innovation Survey (CIS, 2009) – for European Union companies. The results allowed us to establish relationships in three dimensions: (i) the complexity of the innovative effort of the IAP; (ii) the efforts to innovation in different countries are distinct and; (iii) there is heterogeneity in country performanc