Brussels – The European Commission has published its annual Innovation Scoreboard, finding that whilst many countries are improving their innovation performance, there remains wide disparity between member states.
Sweden remains the most innovative EU country, followed by Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany. Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Poland are the EU’s least innovative members.
In order of performance, the countries are:
- Innovation leaders – Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany;
- Strong Innovators – Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland, France, Slovenia
- Moderate Innovators – Czechia, Portugal, Estonia, Lithuania, Italy, Malta, Italy, Cyprus, Slovakia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Croatia;
- Modest Innovators – Bulgaria, Romania.
At the regional level, Stockholm is the EU’s most innovative region, followed by Hovedstaden in Denmark, (the capital region, containing Copenhagen) and the South East of the United Kingdom (which includes Greater London).
Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said that, “the Scoreboard shows that still more can be done to improve research and innovation performance. That’s why we’re gearing up support to breakthrough innovators through the pilot European Innovation Council under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation framework programme.”
For more information, see the European Commission’s Press Release.