Western Balkans

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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The European Commission releases the 2023 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard and the Regional Innovation Scoreboard

On July 6, 2023, the European Commission released the 2023 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) and the bi-annual edition of the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS).

The EIS provides an extensive comparative analysis of innovation performance among EU Member States, as well as other European countries and regional neighbours, while the RIS allows for a closer examination of the innovation performance within European regions.

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said:

"The 2023 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard shows a substantial improvement in innovation performance. It highlights the importance of a European Innovation Ecosystem, with Horizon Europe as a powerful enabler. Something that can help us champion excellence and provide support to leading researchers and innovators and promote a start-up culture. This will ultimately strengthen European competitiveness for us to keep pace in a global landscape".

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia are covered in the European Innovation Scoreboard and its report. Only Serbia is covered in the Regional Innovation Scoreboard.

Below you find the links to the reports and a few screenshots of highlights for the Western Balkans.

European Innovation Scoreboard

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-07/EIS%202023_0.pdf

Overall index

All WBs are "Emerging Innovators"

Specific interesting aspects of the performance by indicator

Some really interesting dark green spots (meaning above 125% of the EU performance) e.g. in foreign doctorate students (North Macedonia), non-R&D innovation expenditure (Serbia), SME with product innovation (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Employment in innovative enterprises (Serbia, Montenegro), Sales of new-to-market and new-to-enterprise innovations (Albania), Development of environment-related technologies (North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina)and also quite a few white spaces with missing data (except for Serbia).