The project “Capturing the value of intangible assets in micro data to promote the EU’s growth and competitiveness”, with the acronym GLOBALINTO (“Into” means enthusiasm in Finnish), aims to develop and refine measures of intangible assets (IAs) at the micro level and to use these measures to analyze the causes of the productivity slowdown and how productivity growth can be improved. In the context of the project, the research consortium will work in co-operation with the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) towards the goal of integrating improved statistics into sustained, official statistical production. GLOBALINTO is a continuation to the FP7 Innodrive project (www.innodrive.org) that developed the Innodrive-methodology in measuring intangible assets at the firm level. In 2013, Horizon2020 NET4SOCIETY chose Innodrive among the seven SSH projects in FP6 and FP7 that had a considerable impact – not only on research but also on policy, society and the economy. Included in our overall objective are a number of specific objectives that will be pursued in the GLOBALINTO in order to achieve this overreaching objective.

The main aims of the project are:
First, GLOBALINTO aims to  review and critically assess existing work on the relation between intangibles and productivity in order to gain in-depth understanding of demand side and supply side factors that contribute to productivity growth. In particular, we aim to identify factors behind the productivity slowdown mentioned above This includes relevant theoretical and empirical work on the micro and macro-underpinnings of growth, and current measurement of intangibles and productivity growth factors. Particular focus will be placed on the role of globalization in the form of market development, global value chains and the rate and diffusion of technological change, and on demand and supply side factors related to demographic changes.

Second, in order to facilitate evidence-based policy and analysis of the micro and macro-underpinnings of growth, a key objective of GLOBALINTO is to prepare, develop and validate new micro and industry level data and statistics for the measurement of intangible assets and other key variables for use in analyses of the relation between innovation, intangibles and productivity. This will utilize a wide range of data sources (including data on firm activities, R&D and innovation, ICT, employee occupations and education, inputs-outputs, and primary data collection from a pilot intangibles survey) to measure intangibles in both the private and public sector. Taking into account the difficulties in measuring intangibles at the micro level based on existing data, GLOBALINTO will also develop and conduct a pilot survey of intangible investments, with the goal of improving parameters used in measurement of intangibles. Furthermore, our goal is to achieve sustainable collection and measurement for our work, and to this end we will work directly with national statistical offices to facilitate the uptake and integration of GLOBALINTO indicators and methodology.

Third, applying advanced econometric methods, GLOBALINTO will utilize this data in order to analyse the various potential explanations of the productivity puzzle, at both micro and macro levels. These include:

• Value chains and the role of technology push factors (early stage in value creation) and demand factors (latter stage).
• Role of demographic change and gender balance through analysis of inter-firm mobility patterns and productivity wage gaps.
• ICT as a driver of innovation and growth; the role of organizational competences
• Innovation and intangibles in SME’s and challenges with growth and market entry
• Inter-industry and international knowledge spillovers and their impact on innovation and productivity
• Role of government and public sector intangibles for government performance and business productivity

Fourth, through both an econometric productivity analysis and an analysis of economic policies, GLOBALINTO will seek to examine the potential role of economic policy in promoting innovation and productivity growth. This includes examination of the “secular stagnation” argument that economic policies have slowed investments, the role of demand-side policies in general, and policy implications of project work.

For more information, please visit: cordis.europa.eu