EU Innovation Performance Continues to Improve

The EU's innovation performance has grown by about 10% since 2015, according to the 2022 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard. Compared to 2021, innovation performance in 2022 has improved for 19 Member States and declined for eight.

Compared to the EU average, global competitors such as Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea, and the United States continue to have a performance advantage over the EU. Nevertheless, the EU has closed its performance gap with these nations and has surpassed Japan since 2021.

Based on their scores, Members States fall into four performance groups: Innovation leaders (performance is above 125% of the EU average), Strong innovators (between 100% and 125% of the EU average), Moderate innovators (between 70% and 100% of the EU average) and Emerging innovators (below 70% of the EU average). Sweden continues to be the best performer in the EU. Other Innovation Leaders are Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Finland.

In comparison to last year's edition, three countries have changed performance groups. The Netherlands has become an Innovation Leader, Cyprus a Strong Innovator, and Estonia a Moderate Innovator. Germany, Ireland, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Austria are Strong innovators, performing above the EU average. Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, and Slovenia are Moderate innovators. Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia are Emerging Innovators.

As in previous versions of the European Innovation Scoreboard, for several indicators, provisional data has been used to ensure the utilization of the most recent information. EU's innovation divide remains. 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. As part of the New European Innovation Agenda, adopted in July 2022, the Commission will focus on bridging the innovation divide across the EU and positioning Europe as a leading player in the global innovation landscape.