The objective of the INDICSER project was to develop indicators which provide information on the performance of service sectors in the EU. At the heart of the project were concerns that such indicators should be valid in terms of concepts, measurement methods and feasibility but should also have value in terms of their usefulness for policy. Therefore the approach adopted was to include both an EU-wide application of existing concepts and develop and experiment with new concepts. This was carried out within an overall coherent structural framework designed to address the key issues of productivity and value for money.

Kopint-Tárki’s main contribution was to the research on non-market services (WP5, WP6 and WP7). Contributions relating to the experience of East European countries also featured in WP3 on the market environment and WP4 on financial services.

The work programme suggested the following criteria for the development of indicators:

• the indicators need to cover measures of industry-level output, input and productivity growth,
• the indicators need to cover determinants of productivity, such as innovation, technology and market environments,
• the indicators need to be feasible and internationally comparable,
• the indicators need to be relevant and useful for economic and social policy analysis.

The researchers of Kopint-Tárki, Antónia Hüttl and Ágnes Nagy, together with István Bedekovics and Adrien Németh from the CSO, published the study “Dynamics of inpatient care in national accounts” related to the Indicser project in the Statisztikai Szemle 2013/6 (in Hungarian).