Impact of Public Support for Innovation on Company Performance: Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a significant shift in public policies directed to firms, with several governments launching public measures to support innovation. To promote firms’ innovation, governments can implement incentives such as subsidizing companies, inducing them to undertake those investments. Hence, the aim of this study is to review the results of a set of studies published on the evaluation of public support to firms’ innovation. To achieve this goal, we conduct a literature review that combines bibliometric analysis, network, qualitative analysis (con-tent review), and quantitative analysis through meta-regression. The analysis was performed using the VOSviewer and Stata software and the results of the meta-regression (regression with Logit model) suggest that there are no characteristics of studies on this topic that affect the results obtained. It was verified that, in the set of articles analyzed, there is strong evidence that public support for innovation leads to favorable results for the company’s performance. The main trends in the topics addressed were also identified and analyzed and, in addition to financial support for innovation, support for small and medium-sized companies, support for the development of the high-tech industry, and open and collaborative innovation stand out.