External Sources of Information for Innovation Development : A Comprehensive Analysis of the European and Spanish Evidence

The ever-greater complexity and dynamism that innovation entails have forced firms to complement their internal knowledge basis cooperating with different stakeholders. Between several existing alternatives, the cooperation with customers is one of the most important sources of innovative ideas. Thus, the current paper attempts to explore different sources of information that European and Spanish firms use to innovate and it highlights the importance of customer cooperation. This analysis is completed with an empirical study of cooperation influence on innovation activity intensity. The data refers to twenty Spanish productive sectors and four types of cooperation (cooperation with customers, suppliers, universities and experts/consultants). In conclusion the paper shows that collaboration with customers significantly increases the firm's innovation intensity and consequently, this variable can be used as a reliable indicator of the effort that the firm is devoting to innovation activities