Lucrări Ştiinţifice – vol. 58 (1) 2015, seria Agronomie 195 EMPIRICAL EVIDENCES REGARDING THE ROLE OF INNOVATION IN ECONOMIC GROWTH Gavril ȘTEFAN 1 , Oana COCA 2 e-mail: stefang@uaiasi.ro Abstract Innovation is the main market trigger that generates economic growth and development. Although studies in the field have pointed out numerous benefits that innovation brought to its creators and end consumers, not all companies manage to innovate. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of innovation upon economic growth, by computing the various indicators used to evaluate the management potential of innovation, the potential to create knowledge, the potential to innovate and collaborate, the performance of innovation activities and the level of economic development per country. The study was performed on the 27 European countries (excluding Luxemburg), using the information available in Eurostat statistics for the period 2008 – 2014. In order to find an answer to the research problem, this paper used the following data analysis methods: the ratios method, the correlation analysis, the comparative analysis. The results showed that there is a strong, direct, and measurable link between a country's level of economic development and its innovation ability, and the performance of innovation activities is influenced by their funding source (public or private capital). Key words: innovation, economic growth, research and development 1 University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine ”Ion Ionescu de la Brad”, Iasi, Romania 2 Alexandru Ioan – Cuza University, Iasi, Romania Under the current economic conditions, at the basis of economic growth and development lies change. Innovation is the most important means to economic growth and development and for improving global business performance, especially on the long term (Ionescu, 2015). Innovation in itself does not trigger economic growth and development, but it determines technical progress. By designing new technologies, information is created, which then becomes ever more valuable as it is more often used by entrepreneurs. The latter, through their entrepreneurial ability to capitalize upon the information and to obtain new economic products and services, favour economic growth and development. Governments turn innovation into a key element in the current political agenda, acknowledging its contribution to economic growth and to eliminating the present social and environmental problems. Nevertheless, in many member states of the European Union, several gaps can be noticed in this field as a result of the numerous constraints in place. Using the statistical data provided by Eurostat and the European Commission, this paper is looking for answers to the following questions: - What are the key indicators that determine the success of the innovation process at a country level? - What is the funding structure of RDI activities – under a public/ private aspect – that determines the best performance? MATERIAL AND METHOD The study was performed on 27 European countries, using the information available in Eurostat statistics for the period 2008 – 2014, resulting in 135 observations. The analysis excluded Luxembourg, since it was an extreme compared to the majority of the variables included in the study. In order to answer the research problem, this paper used the following data analysis methods: the ratios method, the correlation analysis, and the comparative analysis. In close connection with the research objectives, we selected the independent variables (table 1) that can best express the influence on the indicators variation: GDP per 100,000 inhabitants and Net annual income per inhabitant The indicators in Table 1 were computed for the 27 EU member states (excluding Luxembourg) for a five-year period (Year 1 – Year 5). Considering the dependent variables GDP per 100,000 inhabitants and Net annual income per inhabitant, we analysed the effect of the triggers (categories 1 – 3, 4.2, 4.4 – 4.6) on them.