Eurostat data \ Community Innovation Survey \ Database

The different vintages of the CIS surveys can be compared up to and including the 2016 CIS, modulo possible changes in question wording. The evolution of adjustment methods may affect certain developments at the margin. 

However, a break in the series is to be noted from the 2018 CIS onwards. Indeed, following the 4th edition of the Oslo manual, only two types of innovation are now defined from the 2018 CIS (products or processes including organization and marketing), compared to four for the 2016 CIS (products, processes, organization, marketing). Moreover, some questions previously asked only to innovative companies are now asked to all companies. It is therefore necessary to be vigilant on the comparison between the 2020 CIS or the 2018 CIS and previous surveys.

In addition, from the 2020 CIS, the interrogation unit is the enterprise (independant or profiled), rather than the legal unit.