Public Support to Research and Innovation: Do European Resources Boost Innovation Outputs?

Abstract

The paper analyses the financial indicators of 546 Slovak firms that received support from the European Structural and Cohesion Funds (ESCF) in the period of 2013-2015. Two support schemes were analysed: one for innovations (technology transfer) and another for R&D grants. The research combines data from public and private resources. It applies the difference-in-differences (DiD) evaluation method along with the propensity score matching (PSM) technique. The research tests the hypotheses that (i) assistance from the ESCF improved the economic and innovation performance of the supported firms, and (ii) smaller firms transformed public support into innovation outputs more efficiently than did large enterprises. Both hypotheses are confirmed. The finding comes with some reservations concerning the efficiency of the support, grant-seeking behaviour, and the reliability of output indicators.