Les entreprises (industrielles) françaises sont-elles à la frontière technologique ?

Does economic growth require innovation? Do firms need specific favorable conditions in order to innovate? We try to bring some empirical evidence to these questions. Our results underline the crucial role of R&D activities and the persistence of innovation behavior. Moreover benefits (in terms of productivity) resulting from innovation are differentiated according to the initial technological level. Innovating firms seem to contribute significantly to the economic growth over the recent period. Classification JEL : O31, O33, O47, L60