Since 2001, the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS) has been done by a
predominantly European consortium of research institutes and universities. The
main focus of the survey is the development and utilization of different types
of innovations by companies in the manufacturing industries, and associated
performance effects. Currently, four multinational survey rounds have been
done with about 3-year intervals.
The European Manufacturing Survey
EMS covers a wide number of indicators on both tangible and intangible forms
of innovation, encompassing new products, services, technical processes and
organizational concepts and -processes. The questions on these indicators have
been standardized and are measured in all the participating countries.
Additionally, some countries ask questions on specific topics of interest.
In most countries, EMS is carried out as a postal or web survey on the company
level. For preparing multinational analyses the national data undergo a joint
validation and harmonization procedure.
