The European Innovation Scoreboard has just been published, providing a comparative analysis of innovation performance across EU countries and neighbouring nations.

The scoreboard assesses the strengths and weaknesses of national innovation systems and assists countries in identifying areas for improvement.

The 2017 edition introduces a refined analytical framework. While rankings are not directly comparable with previous editions, time series using the new framework allow for the monitoring of performance over time. New indicators capture investments in skills, digital training, entrepreneurship, and public-private innovation partnerships. Furthermore, this framework enables the analysis and comparison of structural differences between countries.

In the 2017 edition, this new scoreboard reveals that the EU's innovation performance continues to rise, driven primarily by improvements in human resources, an innovation-friendly environment, investment in resources, and structured research systems.

Sweden remains the EU innovation leader, followed by Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

The new scoreboard confirms that Europe's most innovative regions are located within the most innovative countries. The most innovative region in the EU is Stockholm in Sweden, followed by Hovedstaden (Copenhagen) in Denmark and the South East in the United Kingdom. Regarding the Lombardy Region, which is classified as a "Moderate + Innovator", the report highlights strong private R&D expenditure, which is higher than the EU average, as well as innovations in products and production processes.

Lithuania, Malta, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Austria are the fastest-growing innovators.

In a global comparison, the EU is catching up with Canada and the United States, but South Korea and Japan are pulling ahead, and China is showing the most significant progress among international competitors.

For further information on Italy's performanceclick here

For further information on the European Innovation Scoreboard click here