Drivers of innovation in the European food industry: evidences from the Community Innovation Survey

Cooperation is particularly important for innovation in the food industry. as it has traditionally been considered as a “low tech” sector. This paper analyses how different forms of cooperation affect innovation activities in the EU’s food industry. To this purpose, we analysed data at the country level drawn from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS). A random effect linear model is formulated and estimated to analyse the panel data obtained from five CIS waves. The model indicates that cooperation with universities positively affects innovative activity whereas, surprisingly, government financial support has not been an effective instrument to foster innovation.