In the global landscape, the EU is performing better than many of its competitors such as China, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, and India. On the other hand, South Korea, Canada, Australia, the United States, and Japan have a performance lead over the EU. This year's European Innovation Scoreboard is based on a revised framework, which includes new indicators on digitalisation and environmental sustainability, bringing the scoreboard more in line with the EU political priorities.
BACKGROUND
The European innovation scoreboard provides a comparative analysis of innovation performance in EU countries, other European countries, and regional neighbours. It assesses relative strengths and weaknesses of national innovation systems and helps countries identify areas they need to address. The first European innovation scoreboard was released in 2001. The European Innovation Scoreboard demonstrates the commitment of the EU and its Member States to research and innovation that is based on excellence and that it is competitive, open and talent-driven. It also supports the development of policies for enhancing innovation in Europe and inform policy makers in the rapidly evolving global context. Moreover, research and innovation is an essential part of the coordinated EU response to the coronavirus crisis, supporting also Europe's sustainable and inclusive recovery. Measuring innovation performance is a key element in achieving this goal.
CURRENT EUROPEAN SITUATION
As always, EU countries fall into four performance groups: Innovation leaders, Strong innovators, Moderate innovators, and Emerging innovators.
Sweden continues to be the EU Innovation Leader, followed by Finland, Denmark and Belgium, all with innovation performance well above the EU average. The performance groups tend to be geographically concentrated, with the Innovation Leaders and most Strong Innovators being located in Northern and Western Europe, and most of the Moderate and Emerging Innovators in Southern and Eastern Europe.
Five Member States witnessed an improvement in performance of 25 percentage points or more (Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Italy, and Lithuania). Four Member States had a performance improvement of between 15 and 25 percentage points (Belgium, Croatia, Finland, and Sweden). For eight Member States, performance improved between 10 and 15 percentage points (Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain). The remaining 10 Member States witnessed an improvement in performance of up to ten percentage points.
The most innovative region in Europe is Stockholm in Sweden, followed by Etelä-Suomi in Finland, and Oberbayern in Germany. The Hovedstaden region of Denmark is in fourth place, and Zürich in Switzerland is in fifth place.
THE REST OF THE WORLD
Comparing the EU average to a selection of global competitors, South Korea is the most innovative country, performing 36% above the score of the EU in 2014 and 21% above the EU in 2021. The EU is ahead of China, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, and India in this year's EIS, while Canada, Australia, the United States, and Japan lead the EU in terms of performance.
For more information:
European Innovation Scoreboard 2021
European Innovation Scoreboard 2021 – Main Report
Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2021
European and Regional Innovation Scoreboards 2021 – Questions and Answers
