An examination of the output additionality of Japan´s R&D subsidies for small and midsized enterprises1

This study examines the output additionally of R&D subsidies for small and midsize enterprises in Japan. Results show that there are no significant differences in business performance indicators, such as return on assets, sales growth rate, and employment growth rate before and after participating in the subsidy program. As for the innovative activity indicators, there are no significant differences in such variables as R&D expenditure and R&D expenditure-to-asset ratio (RDA) either. While R&D expenditure shows no significance change, the number of patent applications reduced significantly: patent productivity declined regardless of the subsidies.