The ninth edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) is out and preliminary data show that the economic crisis impacting Europe is also affecting the progress of innovation across the region. The majority of EU Member States may have posted stronger innovation performance results in 2008, but countries with lower innovation performance levels are likely to be responsible for reversing the convergence process that the EU has undergone in the last few years.
Despite the EU’s drive and determination to meet and potentially surpass the US in terms of innovation performance, the results show the opposite is happening. However, the EU still maintains an advantage over Brazil, China, India and Russia, which are all emerging economies.
In a joint statement, Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, who is also the Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, and Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, said: ‘This scoreboard provides invaluable evidence on trends in innovation performance. The overall picture is positive; there are, however, some worrying signs and we will have to take this very seriously in developing the measures to accomplish what we just laid out in our Europe 2020 strategy.’
Senior officials added, ‘Increasing investment in research and innovation is the key to moving from crisis to sustainable prosperity. That is why the Commission is maintaining the 3% of GDP [gross domestic product] target for R&D [research and development] investment in Europe and proposing realistic national targets with robust monitoring.’
It should be noted that Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn is responsible for implementing a cross-cutting approach to innovation in the new Commission.
The EIS 2009 data show that the region’s five top innovation performers are once again Denmark, Germany, Finland, Sweden and the UK. A breakdown shows that Germany and Finland reported the quickest improved performances, while Denmark and the UK lagged behind.
The ‘Innovation followers’ for 2009 are Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria and Slovenia, while the ‘Moderate innovators’ are the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia.
The ‘Catching-up’ countries, Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania, reported innovation performances that were below the EU-27 average, the EIS 2009 shows. But they are all working to bridge any gaps between them and the other EU Member States. The report indicates that Bulgaria and Romania have clinched the top fastest innovation performances of the EU-27.
The EIS is commissioned by the EU’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry and is prepared by the Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) with support extended by the EU’s Joint Research Centre.
Launched in 2001, the EIS indicators focus on innovation outputs, non-technological innovation and service sectors. The EIS 2009 comprises 29 innovation-related indicators and trend analyses for all 27 EU Member States, along with Croatia, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey. The indicators fall under three categories: enablers (human resources, finance and support); firm activities (firm investments, linkages & entrepreneurship, throughputs); and outputs (innovators, economic effects).
European Innovation Scoreboard
Source: Community R&D Information Service (CORDIS)
