Evidence on the Determinants of Innovation in a Sample of Spanish Firms

This paper provides empirical evidence on the determinants of firms’ R&D investment and innovation decisions by using an original sample of Spanish firms from all business sectors (industry and services). The sample is the result of a survey conducted in Spain in 2006-2007 and includes firm-level data on innovative and noninnovative firms. The main findings of the econometric analysis are twofold. First, very few firm characteristics turn out to be associated with self-declared innovative or non-innovative firms while several ones appear to be associated with firms investing in R&D. Second, the higher the export intensity, the higher the probability for a firm to invest in R&D and innovate.