The ABC of innovation capacity

Estonia has set a goal for the business sector to invest 2% of GDP in research and development, and the state to invest 1% of GDP. If a company invests 2% of its turnover in research and development activities, it can be considered a knowledge-intensive company with high added value.

Companies use ideas and opportunities not only from within their own company, but also from outside for product development and bringing innovation to market. This means that cooperation networks, which may consist of customers, other companies and research institutions, play a major role. Open innovation sees the entire innovation chain as one open system that includes several actors.

An innovation is a new (or significantly updated) product, service or process introduced or introduced to the market. The purpose of innovation is to create value and achieve a competitive advantage, contributing to the company’s development and productivity growth. At the same time, innovations do not always have to be the first in the world or lead to a radical change, but can also contain small incremental changes that improve.