Determinants of investment in innovation and in innovative performance in Ecuadorian private companies.

Innovation improves productivity and makes the company more competitive. It allows the survival of the firm, and that is reason enough to consider it a priority issue and its justified relevance. The theory indicates that a firm faces difficulties when deciding to carry out innovation activities for several reasons, one of them is the impossibility of completely appropriating the return of the investments made; In addition, although firms decide to carry out innovation activities, it is not certain that some effectively innovative result is achieved (Bukstein & Usher, 2016). The project is of high scientific quality, since it is based on methodological rigor and aims to solve questions not answered for Ecuador. The objective of the project is to establish which are the determinants of innovation in the Ecuadorian business sector, based on the data of the National Survey of Innovation Activities 2012-2014, published by the INEC and the Senescyt; Using a transverse approach for the application of economic methods. At the end of the project it is expected to have an integral understanding of the innovation decision process of Ecuadorian private companies. The findings will be reflected in two scientific articles that are intended to be carried as inputs to public policy makers.

XVII UNIVERSITY COMPETITION FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS