Oslo Manual

1. INTRODUCTION

1. It is now accepted that the development and diffusion of new technologies are central to the

growth of output and productivity. But our understanding of the innovation process, and its economic

impact, is still deficient. For example, we are clearly in the throes of a major technological revolution,

with the world economy being reshaped by new information technologies and by fundamental change in

fields such as biotechnology and materials science. Yet these radical technological shifts are not being

reflected in improvements in total factor productivity and in output growth rates.

2. Attempts to understand such puzzles have come to focus, in recent years, on the critical

importance of parts of the innovation process other than R&D, in particular as they affect diffusion rates.

These are areas in which we face serious difficulties, however, in particular due to the absence of reliable

and systematic data. Success in refining the analysis of innovation, and in tackling the policy problems it

poses, will depend in part on the ability to improve the information available.

3. The first version of the Oslo Manual, issued in 1992, and the surveys undertaken using it,

notably the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) organised by the EC, showed that it is possible to

develop and collect data on the complex and differentiated process of innovation.

4. This second edition of the manual takes the original framework of concepts, definitions and

methodology and updates them to incorporate survey experience and improved understanding of the

innovation process and also to take in a wider range of industries. It provides guidelines by which

comparable innovation indicators can be developed in OECD countries, and discusses the analytical and

policy problems to which the indicators are relevant. The Manual has two objectives: to provide a