This study builds on previous work by the proponent between 2011 and 2013 in the context of the ERA_MONITORING and COMPOSITES_4_IU projects, financed by the 2010 and 2011 Capacities work programmes, and on the experience in the development and testing of the EU2020 indicator of innovation output in the Inter-service Task Force in 2013. The main objective of the study is to investigate the link between research and innovation on the one hand and economic growth and employment on the other (firm level); to identify those countries that have been most affected by the economic crisis with respect to their knowledge intensity, and those countries that have been resilient to the economic crisis (factors that contributed to their resilience), and to analyse innovation dynamics and entrepreneurship dynamics within clusters.The study has four foci of interest:1) to statistically support the refinement of the recently developed indicator of innovation output and to bring it to its full potential, following what was outlined by the Inter-service Task Force;2) to further refine the indicators of research excellence and of an open and integrated European Research Area;3) to assess the relationship between the organization of research networks and their impact in terms of excellent outcomes.4) to conduct econometric studies on the relationship between innovation, productivity and employment; andIn general, the geographical scope of the study covers the EU28 Member States, EFTA, Candidate and Associated Countries, and a selection of international benchmark countries (United States, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China, India and Russia). In addition, the study will cover all scientific disciplines and sectors of the economy. However, this scope may be more limited in one or more work packages if sufficiently high quality data is found to be unavailable.