Innovative Activity of Small and Medium- Sized Enterprises

The importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for the economy of our country is constantly growing. In 2018, they made up 99.8% of the enterprises in the country. They employ 75.7% of all employees in the economy and they provide 65.3% of the country‘s added value. The innovation activity of SMEs largely determines the overall innovative performance of our country, and therefore the pace of its development. It is increasingly realized that the stimulation of innovation in SMEs is an important mechanism for achieving competitiveness and economic success not only of individual enterprises but also of our country as a whole. Given this, the first purpose of this study is to perform a comparative analysis of the innovation activity of Bulgarian SMEs compared to the other EU countries and to determine the main areas of achievement and lag. The comparative analysis was performed on the basis of data from official national, European and world sources, as well as from published research results on this issue. The second purpose is to present the results of an empirical study of the innovation activity of a sample of Bulgarian SMEs, conducted by the authors. The survey covers 100 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises from different sectors of the processing industry and its purpose is to check, supplement and clarify secondary information studied for the first stage.