Innovation activity may be hampered by a number of factors. There may be reasons for not starting innovation activities at all; there may be factors that slow innovation activities or affect them negatively. These hampering factors include: economic factors, such as high costs or lack of demand; enterprise factors, such as lack of skilled personnel or knowledge; and legal factors, such as regulations or tax rules.
Two indicators are calculated: (i) the percentage of innovation-active firms for which hampering factors were highly important and (ii) the percentage of non-innovative firms for which hampering factors were highly important.
OECD and Eurostat (2005), Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data, §410.