Highest ranked as “innovation leaders” is Sweden followed by Denmark, Germany and Finland (see scoreboard above).
Almost all Member States have improved their innovation performance according to the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011. However, innovation performance growth is slowing down and the EU is not closing the persistent gap with global innovation leaders US, Japan and South Korea.
The EU still maintains a clear lead over the emerging economies of China, Brazil, India, Russia, and South Africa. However, China is improving its innovation performance and is catching up progressively.
Who are the innovation leaders in Europe?
The 2011 Innovation Union Scoreboard places Member States into the following four country groups:
• Innovation leaders: Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Finland.
• Innovation followers: Belgium, the UK, Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg, Ireland, France, Slovenia, Cyprus and Estonia with a performance close to that of the EU27 average.
• Moderate innovators: Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, Greece, Malta Slovakia and Poland perform below that of the EU27 average.
• Modest innovators: Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latvia are well below that of the EU27 average.
More information about the Scoreboard
Read the full report