For comparisons between European Union countries, please refer to Eurostat indicators.

From CIS 2020 onwards, the unit of questioning is the enterprise in the economic sense (independent legal unit or profiled company), and no longer the legal unit. The results of the 2020, 2022 and 2024 surveys can be compared, but care must be taken when making comparisons with previous editions.

However, a break in the series is to be noted from the 2018 CIS onwards. Indeed, following the 4th edition of the Oslo manual, only two types of innovation are now defined from the 2018 CIS (products or processes including organization and marketing), compared to four for the 2016 CIS (products, processes, organization, marketing). Moreover, some questions previously asked only to innovative companies are now asked to all companies. It is therefore necessary to be vigilant on the comparison between the 2020 CIS or the 2018 CIS and previous surveys.