UK innovation survey 2021: results for Scotland

International Comparison

The UK definition of innovation is based on an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) definition outlined in the Oslo Manual 2018.  This makes it possible to compare the rates of business innovation across the OECD and partner economies.

However, it is important to note that the headline rate of the proportion of innovation active businesses as per the OECD results differs from the headline rate of the proportion of innovation active businesses as per the UK Innovation Survey 2021 publication. This difference is as a result of the OECD rates being focused on a smaller group of industrial sectors compared to the UKIS rates. For example, the UKIS results include businesses in the Construction (section F), Retail (Division 47) and Hotels & restaurants (section I) sectors.  In the OECD results, these sectors are excluded.

This difference in sectoral definition has a marked impact on the activity rates.  The UKIS results for 2016-18 show the proportion of innovation active businesses in Scotland was 32.2%, lower than the rate for the UK at 37.6%. Using the OECD sectoral definition, the 2016-18 share for Scotland was 41.7%, compared to 43.4% for the UK (Table 27).

Figure 15: In terms of innovative firms as a share of total firms, Scotland is ranked in 18th place amongst OECD and partner economies.

Note that 2018-20 data for OECD countries is not currently available and so data for 2016-18 has been used here.