Comparison of the criteria affecting the digital innovation performance of the European Union (EU) member and candidate countries with the entropy weight-TOPSIS method and investigation of its importance for SMEs

Abstract

Digital innovation offers new competitive opportunities for the EU to achieve its digital strategies and innovation objectives. This study aims to show that the digital innovation performance of SMEs is related to criteria that affect countries' levels of digital technology adoption, digital transformation and innovation management. The digital innovation indicators used for this purpose are ICT, knowledge-intensive employment, university-industry collaborations on R&D, digital skills, patent applications, investments in new technologies, R&D expenditures, use of virtual social networks and cyber security. Research data were obtained from the Global Innovation Index (GII), Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and Network Readiness Index (NRI). These data were analyzed with the Entropy Weight-TOPSIS method and EU and candidate countries were compared. In the results of the research analysis, Austria, Denmark and Germany took the first three places. In the ranking of these countries, ICT utilization, patent applications and R&D expenditures have high scores. The last three ranked countries are Turkey, Serbia and Croatia. Compared to EU members and other candidate countries, these three countries have the lowest scores in ICT use, patent applications, knowledge intensive employment, digital skills, investment in new technologies and university-industry cooperation in R&D.