European Innovation Scoreboard 2018

The Commission’s 2018 European Innovation Scoreboard, published on 22nd of June 2018, shows that the EU’s innovation performance continues to improve, but further efforts are needed to ensure Europe’s global competitiveness.

Every year, the Commission publishes a comparative assessment of the innovation performance of Member States and benchmarks it with international competitors. The data helps Member States, and the EU as a whole, assess in which areas efforts need to be focused.
This year’s edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard reveals a positive trend in the majority of EU countries ‘“ most notably in Malta, the Netherlands, and Spain, with Sweden remaining the EU innovation leader. The EU is catching up with key competitors such as Canada, Japan and the United States. But closing this innovation gap and maintaining the lead over China will require a concerted effort to deepen Europe’s innovation potential.

The 2018 European Innovation Scoreboard: key findings

Sweden is once again the EU innovation leader, followed by Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Luxembourg which joins the top innovators group this year. Germany drops to the group of strong innovators.

• On average, the innovation performance of the EU has increased by 5.8% since 2010. Over the last 8 years, innovation performance increased in 18 EU countries and decreased in ten. Performance has increased most in Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom while it decreased most in Cyprus and Romania.
• At the global level, the EU is catching up with Canada, Japan and the United States. The EU maintains its lead over China, but this lead is decreasing rapidly with China having improved almost three times as fast as the EU. Relative to South Korea, the EU has been falling behind, but a gradual catch-up is expected over the next years.
• In selected areas of innovation, the EU leaders are:
  • Denmark ‘“ human resources and innovation-friendly environment;
  • Luxembourg ‘“ attractive research systems;
  • France ‘“ finance and support;
  • Ireland ‘“ innovation in SMEs, employment impacts, and sales impacts;
  • Belgium ‘“ innovation linkages and collaboration.
• Innovation performance has improved most in the area of broadband penetration, human resources, and the attractiveness of research systems, especially through international co-publications.
• Public R&D expenditures as a share of GDP remain below their 2010 level.
• Over the next two years, the EU’s overall innovation performance is expected to improve by 6%.

You may download all the documents regarding the European Innovation Scoreboard EIS 2018 from the following ink https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/innovation/facts-figures/scoreboards_en

Content Source: European Commission – Press release: “European Innovation Scoreboard 2018: Europe must deepen its innovation edge” Brussels, 22 June 2018