Comparison of the Profile of Portuguese Companies That Receive Public Support for Innovation: National Support vs. European Support

Innovation has emerged as the key driver of economic growth, technological advancement, and societal well-being. Recognizing the significance of fostering innovation, governments and policymakers worldwide have increasingly emphasized the need for public support to bolster the innovation ecosystem. This article explores the crucial importance of public support for innovation and delves into the characteristics of companies that receive such support. Based on the Community Innovation Survey of 2014, 2016, and 2018, information was compiled from 1857 companies. Of these companies, common to these 6 years of information, 755 received national support for innovation and 490 received European support. Based on these data, the main objective was to identify and distinguish the characteristics of Portuguese companies that receive European support and national support for innovation. To achieve this objective, logit models were estimated using Stata software. The results suggest that national support favors companies that belong to sectors with greater technological development, which develop new products and processes. Companies that establish cooperation agreements and that belong to groups of companies are also preferred for national support. In turn, of the companies that received European support, it appears that there is less differentiation in preference for the level of technological development. Companies that invest internally in R&D and that establish cooperation agreements for innovation are more likely to obtain European support, as are companies that have a higher proportion of workers with higher education. Finally, both national and European support favor companies with a greater volume of business from foreign markets.