SOME ASPECTS CONCERNING THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ICT AND INNOVATION IN EUROPE

In the context of the entire world's efforts to start recovering from one of the worst economic crisis, finding the main drivers of growth is increasingly important. The European Commission's new proposal - "Europe 2020"- states innovation as one of these main drivers, and promotes the development of a smart economy based on knowledge and innovation. But how innovation can be fostered? The present study focuses on the relationship between innovation and Information and Communications Technology (ICT), a supporting pillar of the "smart economy". This relationship has been studied at country level using two composite indicators: one for ICT - the "Networked Readiness Index"(NRI) published by World Economic Forum - and another for Innovation - the "Summary Innovation Index"(SII) from the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS). The results represent a first step towards finding the best driving factors that can stimulate innovation.