Sectoral Patterns Of Technological Change In Services

TLDR

The study aims to map the characteristics of service innovation using the 1993–95 Italian innovation survey and to propose a sectoral taxonomy clustering industries by innovative performance, activity types, knowledge bases, and interaction patterns. It analyzes survey data from 1993–95 to characterize service firms’ innovation activities and construct the taxonomy. The analysis shows that about one third of service firms introduced technological innovations, mainly through process innovation, investment, and software development, while R&D mattered only for a few science‑based services, revealing diverse patterns that preclude a single generalization.

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive picture of the characteristics of innovation in services, using the results of the 1993–95 Italian innovation survey in services. Technological change does play a role in services: around one third of service firms have introduced a technological innovation in the period 1993–95. Process innovation, innovative investment and the acquisition and internal development of software represent the most important channels through which service firms innovate. R&D activities represent an important innovation source only for a small number of science and technology-based service industries. The sectoral analysis highlights the variety of innovative patterns, which should discourage any simple generalization about innovation in services. Accordingly, a sectoral taxonomy is proposed in which service industries are clustered according to the overall innovative performance of firms, the nature of the innovation activities carried out, the different knowledge bases underlying the innovation processes, and the different patterns of interaction through which service firms innovate.