2014: Understanding innovations

International recommendations on innovation measurement propose to consider innovation as a final result of innovation activity, embodied in the form of a new or significantly improved product, manufacturing process, method of doing business, organization of working place or external communication. Creation of a new product (radical innovation) implies an essential breakthrough in the production using fundamentally new technology. The product improvement (incremental innovation), as a rule, is not so costly as creation a new product, and it is intended primarily for a penetration to the new markets.

Public surveys conducted in 30 European countries indicated that in the most cases understanding «innovation» as a new product prevails (it is more common in Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, Sweden, Bulgaria, Rumania and Ireland). Only five counties have more advocates of considering innovation as improved products (Czech Republic, Belgium, Slovakia, Estonia and Poland). In 2006 opinions of Russians were divided almost equally (32% and 31%), but in 2011 proportion of respondents who thought that innovation is the creation of a new product increased (from 31 to 49%). Perception of innovations by Russian population is provided on infographics below.