The Measurement of Innovation System Performance

The measurement of the performance of an innovation system influences policy decisions for the improvement of such a system and makes comparisons possible. The question arises how innovation system performance should be measured. A descriptive analysis is made of empirical studies that measured innovative performance. The analysis revealed that there is no generally accepted method of measuring performance of an innovation system. It is important to distinguish between measurement of innovative capacity and innovative performance of the innovation system. The use of composite indicators has become more popular. Unfortunately, many existing indices that intend to measure innovative performance comprise capacity and performance indicators where they should rather focus on performance indicators only.