External factors influencing the success of innovation projects in companies: an empirical assessment

The study identifies external environmental factors that influence industrial enterprises’ innovation activity drawing on the example of China – the global leader in innovative development. The subject of this study is the measurement of innovation activity within the industrial sector, such as: research and development activity, the number of new product development projects and active patents for inventions, revenue from sales of new products and their exports. The selection of external success factors is based on literature review on relevant topics including: innovation infrastructure, institutions, cooperation and financing. Financing is employed as a control factor that has been repeatedly substantiated by other empirical studies. The analysis is based on official Chinese statistics (2011-2022), the Global Innovation Index sub-indices and data from the Statista platform. The time series sample is subjected to a detailed examination through descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and the calculation of an internal consistency coefficient. The Granger causality test is employed as a primary research method. The findings reveal that financing represents the most crucial element influencing the innovation activity of enterprises. The provision of startup financing and venture capital investment has been demonstrated to stimulate an increase in the number of innovative projects and new products. The study demonstrates that scientific collaboration, formation of clusters, and regulatory framework exert a considerable influence on the innovation processes of enterprises engaged in R&D. The empirical data prove that regulatory framework stimulates the number of active patents, and high patent activity in turn promotes cooperation and imports. The study thus asserts the importance of external factors, in particular financing and collaboration, which entail the success of innovation projects within the industrial sector. The findings are of significant importance for the development of new national development programmes and the adaptation of existing ones, as well as for the management of companies seeking to enhance the efficiency of their investment in innovation projects.