General data on enterprises by NACE Rev. 2 activity and size class, expresed in absolute number and percentage. General information includes formation of an enterprise group, subsidiaries in the national country, sells of goods and/or services in the national market, etc. Information on innovative process or product (e.g. innovative marketing only, suspended or on-going innovation activities, etc.) is also given.

The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) is a survey of innovation activity in enterprises. The survey is designed to provide information on the innovativeness of sectors by type of enterprises, on the different types of innovation and on various aspects of the development of an innovation, such as the objectives, the sources of information, the public funding or the expenditures. The CIS provides statistics broke down by countries, types of innovators, economic activities and size classes. The survey is currently carried out every two years across the European Union, some EFTA countries and EU candidate countries.

In order to ensure comparability across countries, Eurostat together with the countries developed a standard core questionnaire (see in Annex) accompanied by a set of definitions and methodological recommendations. CIS 2012 concepts and underlying methodology are also based on the Oslo Manual third edition of 2005.

CIS provides information on the characteristics of innovation activity at enterprise level. It allows Europe’s progress to be monitored in the area of innovation, creating a better understanding of the innovation process with analysis of the objectives and the effects of innovation. These results can also be linked to variables related to competitiveness, employment and economic growth. The concepts are in line with those recommended by the Oslo Manual (3rd edition 2005), which is the internationally recognised standard methodology for collecting innovation statistics.

The main statistical unit is the enterprise, as defined in the Council Regulation on statistical units (Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993, OJ No L76 of 3 March 1993) or as defined in the statistical business register. The population of the CIS is determined by the size of the enterprise and its principal activity. All enterprises with 10 or more employees in any of the Core NACE categories are included in the statistical population.

CIS 2012 collected information on product, process, organisational and marketing innovation. CIS results offer a broad set of indicators on innovation activities, innovation development, innovation expenditures, public funding, sources of information for innovation, innovation cooperation and organisational and marketing innovation. CIS 2012 includes an ad-hoc module on growth that consists of a set of questions focusing more specifically on the strategies and obstacles for reaching the enterprises' goals.

At the national level, as in any regular sample survey, the countries extrapolate the collected data with the appropriate weighting scheme for obtaining the population totals. At Eurostat, the European aggregates are summed up from the national data.