Diversity in Firms’ Innovation Strategies and Activities: Main Findings of Interviews and Implications in the Context of the Hungarian National Innovation System

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of interviews conducted with Hungarian firms on their overall business and innovation strategies and innovation activities to pursue three interconnected aims: a) better understand firm behaviour by analysing qualitative features of innovation processes (motivations, dynamics, linkages among driving factors and collaboration among actors); b) identify and sharpen hypotheses and research questions for quantitative analyses; derive policy implications.

A brief overview of the Hungarian NIS is offered in Section 2, and the major performance indicators are presented in international comparison in Section 3. Then the sample is described and the major interview findings are summarised in Section 4. The concluding section highlights implications for innovation surveys’ methods, further quantitative analyses, as well as innovation policies and policy analyses.

Keywords: Firms' innovation strategies, Automotive industry, Pharmaceuticals, ICT, National and sectoral innovation systems, Innovation surveys, Innovation policies, Hungary

JEL Classification: L21, L62, L63, L65, L86, O31, O32, O38