AI, robots and innovation in European SMEs
Open accessAbstract
There is increasing interest in the impact of advanced digital technologies on SMEs, but the determinants of their adoption and their association with multiple innovation outcomes remain unexplored. Based on the Flash Eurobarometer 486, this paper analyses how the adoption of artificial intelligence and robots is related to European SMEs carrying out product, process, organizational and marketing innovations. Our results establish scale-ups and start-ups as the most likely adopters of these technologies and the most innovative firms. Furthermore, internal characteristics, such as internationalization and firm size, and external factors, such as the availability of digital skills and infrastructure, are significant drivers of digitalization at the firm level. In a two-stage approach, we find that the adoption of artificial intelligence and robots is associated with all innovation types, although these technologies serve more specialised objectives in manufacturing rather than in service sectors. Our results confirm a significant variability in the adoption of artificial intelligence and robots, as well as heterogeneous associations with innovation outcomes.
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Even where basic infrastructure exists, as in many peripheral countries, adoption remains low due to cultural-institutional barriers.
“This finding complements Segarra Blasco, Porres and Terruel's [58] conclusion that digital skills and infrastructure are significant AI adoption predictors while adding an important nuance: even where basic infrastructure exists (as in many peripheral countries), adoption remains low due to cultural-institutional barriers.”
From Divergent Paths of SME Digitalization: A Latent Class Approach to Regional Modernization in the European Union (2025) · cites this paper as [58]
Results confirm the digital competences-infrastructure-adoption nexus hypothesized by Segarra Blasco, Tomás Porres and Terruel, while uncovering structural barriers that linger even when very low infrastructural thresholds have been met-most notably in transition-biased Class 2.
“Second, our results confirm the digital competences-infrastructure-adoption nexus hypothesized by Segarra Blasco, Tomás Porres and Terruel [58], while also uncovering structural barriers that still linger even when very low infrastructural thresholds have been met-most notably in the transition-biased Class 2, Partially Digital and Upgrading.”
From Divergent Paths of SME Digitalization: A Latent Class Approach to Regional Modernization in the European Union (2025) · cites this paper as [58]
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Zheleva, R., Petkova, K., & Zdravkov, S. (2025) · World · doi:10.3390/world6040144 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Segarra-Blasco, A., Tomàs-Porres, J., & Teruel, M.
- Affiliations
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Teruel, Mercedes
- Venue
- Small Business Economics
- Published
- 2025-02-25
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 719-745
- ISSN
- 0921-898X (ISSN-L)
- 1573-0913
- OpenAlex
- W4407920284
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 35 · 2025: 14
- FWCI
- 45.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Small Business Economics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Rovira & Virgili repository (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili - Martí i Franquès programme (2021-PMF-PIPF-33)
- Generalitat de Catalunya (2021-SGR-00729, 2017-SGR-00493)
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili (2019PFR-URV-B2-80)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Firm Innovation and Growth
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Impact of AI and Big Data on Business and Society
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Digital Economy and Transformation
- Keywords
- artificial intelligence adoption, robot adoption, small and medium-sized enterprises, business innovation, product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, marketing innovation, digitalization, scale-up, startups, internationalization, firm size, digital skills, digital infrastructure, European SMEs
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