Based on their scores, EU countries fall into four performance groups: Innovation leaders, Strong innovators, Moderate innovators and Emerging innovators. 

• Sweden continues to be the best performer in the EU. Other Innovation Leaders are Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
• Ireland, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, Cyprus, and France are Strong innovators, performing above the EU average.
• Estonia, Slovenia, Czechia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Lithuania, and, Greece are Moderate innovators.
• Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria and, Romania are Emerging Innovators.

Almost all EU countries have improved their innovation performance over the period 2015-2022. Compared to the EU in 2015 performance has increased most in Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, and Czechia. For two Emerging Innovators, Croatia and Poland, innovation performance has grown faster than the EU average.

EU’s innovation divide remains. The performance groups tend to be geographically concentrated, with the Innovation Leaders and most Strong Innovators being located in Northern and Western Europe, and most of the Moderate and Emerging Innovators in Southern and Eastern Europe. 

Between 2015 and 2022, the EU has improved its relative position towards all global competitors except China. As a result, the EU has reduced somewhat its innovation performance gap with Australia, Canada, South Korea and the United States. South Korea continues being the most innovative country among the selected global competitors.

This year’s European Innovation Scoreboard is based on the same indicator framework as the 2021 edition, which consists of 32 indicators grouped under 12 dimensions such as: attractive research systems, firm investment in research and development, and use of information technologies.