A magyar és román kis- és középvállalkozások innovációs aktivitásának összehasonlító elemzése
Comparative Analysis of Innovation Activities in Hungarian and Romanian SMEs

Summary/Abstract: Innovation is one of the key determinants of competitiveness in today’s economic environment, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For these firms, innovation represents not only an opportunity for growth but also a fundamental condition for long-term sustainability. In 2024, SMEs accounted for 99.8% of all enterprises in the non-financial business sector of the European Union. Altogether, approximately 26.1 million SMEs employed nearly 89.8 million people, making a substantial contribution to employment and value added within the EU economy. The aim of this study is to provide a comparative analysis of the innovation characteristics and performance of the Hungarian and Romanian SME sectors, drawing on relevant national and international literature. Our findings indicate that Hungary’s overall innovation performance exceeds that of Romania, particularly in terms of digitalization, export oriented industrial structure, and research and development collaboration. At the same time, Romania demonstrates relative strengths in digital infrastructure development and certain indicators of resource efficiency. However, it lags behind in the quality of human capital, the level of R&D expenditure, and the overall innovation activity of enterprises. In both countries, major barriers to innovation include the shortage of skilled labor, limited access to financial resources, and the relatively low level of innovation culture. The results suggest that strengthening SME competitiveness requires the strategic integration of innovation into corporate management practices, as well as the systematic enhancement of cooperation among educational institutions, research organizations, and business actors.

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