The determinants of national innovative capability- a cross-country innovation efficiency analysis

Abstract

This research considers the R&D/knowledge generation activity in each country as a production process and applies Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate the efficiency among countries in the production and commercialization of “new-to-the-world” technologies. The purpose of this study is to know the distributions of efficiencies in national innovation activities and the influences of environmental factors on innovation efficiency. The results show the efficiencies of selected countries in innovation commercialization are more diverse than those in innovation production. The Tobit regressions reveal that GDP, public expense on education, percentage of total university degrees S&T, school enrollment and venture capital, are significant in explaining innovation production efficiency. In innovation commercialization, GDP, population, venture capital, trade ratio are positive coefficient with innovation commercialization.