Salient Points
- Innovation expenditure for 2024 was estimated at €1.1 billion.
- Enterprises in Manufacturing (NACE C), Information and communication (NACE J), and Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (NACE G) accounted for the highest total expenditure, representing 66.6, 14.2 and 4.3 per cent, respectively, of the overall expenditure.
- 1,356 enterprises employing at least 10 persons, or 43.4 per cent of the surveyed enterprises, undertook innovation activity.
Commentary
Between 2022 and 2024, 1,356 enterprises employing at least 10 persons, or 43.4 per cent of the surveyed enterprises, undertook innovation activity. Results show that 570 enterprises were engaged in both product and business process innovation, 562 enterprises were engaged in business process innovation only, 145 enterprises were solely engaged in product innovation, and 79 enterprises performed either Research and Development (R&D) or other innovation activities (Chart 1).
Innovation expenditure (excl. R&D) was predominant with a total of €921.4 million (85.4 per cent), followed by intramural R&D at €96.0 million (8.9 per cent). Enterprises in Manufacturing (NACE C), Information and communication (NACE J), and Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (NACE G) accounted for the highest total expenditure, representing 66.6, 14.2 and 4.3 per cent, respectively, of the overall expenditure (Table 2).
17.8 per cent of all innovative enterprises indicated in the survey that they had at least one cooperation arrangement with another enterprise or organisation, where most enterprises (52.3 per cent) had a cooperation with a private business enterprise from the business sector (Table 3).
11.9 per cent (373 enterprises) of the surveyed enterprises applied for an intellectual property right or license. Most enterprises (237 enterprises) applied for a trademark only. This was followed by enterprises which applied for more than one intellectual property right (75 enterprises) and those which used a trade secret only (34 enterprises) (Table 4).
40.6 per cent of innovative enterprises did not feel the need to introduce more innovation activity within their enterprise, while 23.5 per cent had a lack of resources which hampered them from introducing more innovation activities. 4.6 per cent of the non-innovative enterprises did not introduce any innovation activity due to lack of resources, whereas the majority (80.2 per cent) did not introduce any innovation activity as it was not needed (Table 5, Chart 2).
25.3 per cent of the total innovative enterprises successfully obtained either equity or debt finance, a third (33.8 per cent) of these enterprises having partly or fully utilised these funds for R&D or other innovation activities (Table 6).
32.8 per cent of the enterprises introduced innovations which reduced energy use or CO2 footprint within their enterprise. These were followed by enterprises that recycled waste, water, or materials for own use or sale (31.4 per cent) (Table 7).
Out of the total enterprises, 37.7 per cent formed part of an enterprise group, of which 66.6 per cent had their head office located in Malta while the remaining companies had their head office located in the European Union (EU), in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries or the rest of the world, amounting to 15.5, 1.2 and 16.7 per cent respectively (Table 8, Chart 3).
Tables
- xlsx Table 1. NACE Rev. 2 Classification 11.76 KB
- xlsx Table 2. Enterprises with innovation expenditure by industry and type: 2024 14.47 KB
- xlsx Table 3. Innovative enterprises having cooperation arrangements by size class: 2022-2024 11.83 KB
- xlsx Table 4. Enterprises applying for intellectual property rights or licensing by size class: 2022-2024 11.95 KB
- xlsx Table 5. Enterprises by reason not to innovate further: 2022-2024 10.69 KB
- xlsx Table 6. Funding prospects for innovative enterprises: 2022-2024 10.35 KB
- xlsx Table 7. Innovative enterprises having introduced innovations with environmental benefits: 2022-2024 12.67 KB
- xlsx Table 8. Enterprises forming part of a group by innovation status: 2024 12.42 KB
- xlsx All Tables 32.82 KB
Methodological Notes
1. The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) collects information about innovative activities carried out in a specific three-year period in the business sector. The target population is the minimum coverage requested, namely total enterprises with 10 employed persons or more.
2. The Survey is conducted in accordance with the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1092 pursuant to the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and the Oslo Manual (2018 edition).
3. The following activities (NACE Rev. 2) are included in the target population:
– Mining and quarrying (NACE B: 05-09);
– Manufacturing (NACE C: 10-33);
– Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (NACE D: 35);
– Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (NACE E: 36-39);
– Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles (NACE 46);
– Transportation and storage (NACE H: 49-53);
– Information and communication (NACE J: 58-63);
– Financial and insurance activities (NACE K: 64-66);
– Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis (NACE 71);
– Scientific research and development (NACE 72);
– Advertising and market research (NACE 73).
Additional coverage was also conducted for the following non-core activities:
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing (NACE A: 01-03);
– Construction (NACE F: 41-43);
– Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (NACE 45);
– Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles (NACE 47);
– Accommodation and food service activities (NACE I: 55-56);
– Real estate activities (NACE L: 68);
– Legal and accounting activities (NACE 69);
– Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities (NACE 70);
– Other professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE 74);
– Veterinary activities (NACE 75);
– Administrative and support service activities (NACE N: 77-82).
4. Enterprises with innovation expenditure by industry and type (table 2). Research and Development (R&D) Intramural Expenditure reported (table 2) is collected from the CIS 2024, which due to difference in the coverage of the survey is to be used only for the compilation for the total innovation expenditure for 2024. Actual R&D expenditure for 2024 should be taken from News Release 132/2026 – Research and Development in Malta: 2024.
5. Definitions:
• Total enterprises:
• Enterprises with innovation activity
• Product and/or business process innovation
• Product innovators only
• Business process innovators only
• Both product and business process innovation
• Enterprises with completed, abandoned and/or ongoing innovation activity and/or R&D
• Non-innovative enterprises
• Enterprises which did not record any innovation activity in the reference years
– A product innovation is a new or improved good or service that differs significantly from the firm’s previous goods or services and which has been implemented on the market. It includes significant changes to the design of a good and digital goods or services while excludes the simple re-sale of new goods and changes of a solely aesthetic nature.
– A business process innovation is a new or improved business process for one or more business functions that differs significantly from the firm’s previous business processes and which has been implemented within the firm.
Business Innovation Expenditure
– R&D performed in-house is undertaken by the enterprise to create new knowledge or solve scientific or technical problems. This includes current expenditures (i.e.) labour costs and capital expenditures on buildings, machinery, equipment and software specifically for R&D.
– R&D contracted out: The enterprise contracted out R&D to other enterprises (including enterprises in same group) or to public or private research organisations.
– Other innovation expenditure consists of all other activities related to the development of new or significantly improved products and processes. This includes own personnel working on innovation; services, materials, supplies purchased from others for innovation; capital goods for innovation (acquisition of machinery, equipment, software, IPRs, buildings etc.); and other expenditures.
6. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:
Statistical Concepts
Metadata
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