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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 19:15

Estonia's place in EU's innovation list is unchanged among leaders

BC, Tallinn, 27.03.2013.Print version
Estonia continues to be on the 14th place in the fresh European Union's Innovation Union Scoreboard, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports. Latvia and Lithuania in the group of Moderate innovators.

Based on the Summary Innovation Index, the member states fall into the following four country groups:

 

-          innovation leaders: Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Finland, all show a performance well above that of the EU average.

-          Innovation followers: Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, the UK, Austria, Ireland, France, Slovenia, Cyprus and Estonia all show a performance close to that of the EU average.

-          Moderate innovators: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, Malta and Lithuania is below that of the EU average. Modest innovators: The performance of Poland, Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria is well below that of the EU average.

 

The report notes though that EU is increasing its innovation performance with Estonia being the unquestionable innovation growth leader. While the annual innovativeness of the EU grew by an average of 1.6% in 2008-2013, in Estonia it grew by 7.1%.

 

EU Member States’ innovation performance

Innovation performance in the EU has improved year on year in spite of the continuing economic crisis, but the innovation divide between Member States is widening. This is the result of the European Commission Innovation Union Scoreboard 2013, a ranking of EU Member States. While the most innovative countries have further improved their performance, others have shown a lack of progress. The overall ranking within the EU remains relatively stable, with Sweden at the top, followed by Germany, Denmark and Finland. Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are the countries that have most improved since last year. Drivers of innovation growth in the EU include SMEs and the commercialisation of innovations, together with excellent research systems. However the fall in business and venture capital investment over the years 2008-2012 has negatively influenced innovation performance.

 

European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said"This year's results show that the economic crisis has negatively impacted innovation activity in some parts of Europe. Investment in innovation is crucial if we want to maintain our global competitiveness and restore growth in Europe. We need to encourage entrepreneurship as SMEs have been a key driver of innovation."


Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, responsible for Research, Innovation and Science, said: "Innovation should now be at the heart of all Member States' policy agendas. Our latest State of the Innovation Union report, also published today, shows we made progress in 2012 on some of the big ticket items like the Unitary Patent and new rules for venture capital funds, but we need to go further in order to avoid an innovation divide in Europe."

 

The European Commission has also today published a report complementary to the Scoreboard. The State of the Innovation Union report shows that the Commission has already largely delivered on the Innovation Union flagship commitments.






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