Business innovations and their key factors: public funding, human capital, and their relationships with the industrial environment

Abstract

Considering that innovation plays a relevant role in the current business environment, this article investigates the effect of public funding invested in science, technology, and innovation on obtaining innovative results in industrial companies in Colombia. To achieve this purpose, we proposed three hypotheses; the first one is oriented to know if the probability of obtaining innovative results increase when companies receive Public funding for research and development activities, the second one verifies if the probability of obtaining innovative results depends on the qualifications of the human capital. The third one checks out if the probability of obtaining innovative results increases when companies have relationships with their environment institutions. The data from 1989 industrial companies was obtained from the VII Technological Development and Innovation Survey and was analyzed using a logistic regression model that seeks to predict the outcome of a categorical variable from independent variables. The results respond to the hypotheses put forth, indicating positive and significant effects of public aid for R&D in obtaining innovative results and a moderating effect of the qualification of human capital and companies' ability to interact with the different actors within their environment.