Improving Europe’s capacity to innovate and be globally competitive requires further efforts to encourage disruptive ideas and foster their commercial up-take. These are some of the conclusions to be drawn from the latest ranking of innovation performance across Europe.
The European Commission’s Innovation Union Scoreboard 2015 reveals that the EU’s overall level of innovation has remained stable. However, the crisis has left an impact on the private sector’s innovative activity: the number of innovative firms is in decline, as are SMEs’ innovations, patent applications, exports of high-tech products, venture capital investments and sales of innovative products. While there have been improvements in human resources, business investments in research and development and the quality of science, these are not enough to result in a stronger innovation performance.
At a press conference on 7 May 2015, Commissioner Carlos Moedas, responsible for Research, Innovation and Science, said: “We need more investments to boost the EU’s innovation performance. This should go hand in hand with better conditions and a single market for innovative products and services in Europe. We are working on this at EU level and stand ready to help Member States implement the reforms to enhance the impact of their public investments.”
Background
The Innovation Union Scoreboard provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance of the EU Member States and the relative strengths and weaknesses of their research and innovation systems. It helps Member States assess areas in which they need to concentrate their efforts in order to boost their innovation performance.
In addition, the IUS covers Serbia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. On a more limited number of indicators, available internationally, it also covers Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and the US. The Innovation Union Scoreboard 2015 was prepared by Nordine Es-Sadki, Hugo Hollanders and Minna Kanerva. See the executive summary below, then check the EU website for the full report and related documents.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INFOGRAPHIC
MEDIA CREDITS
European Union 2015