Measuring Europe’s innovation performance: Insights from the
European innovation scoreboard 2025
The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS)
[https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/statistics/performance-indicators/european-innovation-scoreboard_en]
offers a yearly snapshot of how well Europe performs in research and
innovation. Released on 15 July 2025, the latest edition compares the
innovation performance of EU Member States, neighbouring European
countries, and selected global competitors. By tracking progress over
time, the EIS helps policymakers, researchers, and businesses
understand how national innovation systems are evolving and where
further action is needed. 

At its core, the EIS answers a simple question: how strong are
national innovation systems, and where can they improve? To do this,
the scoreboard combines data on areas such as education, research
investment, business innovation, digital skills, and the economic
impact of innovation. Based on their overall scores, countries are
grouped into four categories: Innovation Leaders, Strong Innovators,
Moderate Innovators, and Emerging Innovators, making it easier to
understand relative performance at a glance. This structure helps
policymakers identify strengths, spot gaps, and design targeted
policies that support innovation-driven growth. 

One of the most notable findings of the European Innovation Scoreboard
2025 is the contrast between steady long-term progress and more uneven
short-term developments. Since 2018, the European Union’s overall
innovation performance has increased by 12.6 percentage points, with
all Member States improving over time. Yet between 2024 and 2025,
performance declined slightly at EU level, as gains in 13 Member
States were offset by decreases in 14 others. At country level,
several shifts stand out: Sweden reclaimed its position as the EU’s
most innovative country, Croatia moved up to the Moderate Innovators
group, while Cyprus and Hungary changed performance categories despite
continued score improvements, highlighting how relative progress
matters as much as absolute growth. 

All results of the EIS are built on open data and can be explored
through the EIS interactive tool, which allows users to compare
countries, analyse trends, and reuse data for research or policy
analysis. Explore the European Innovation Scoreboard 2025
[https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/statistics/performance-indicators/european-innovation-scoreboard_en]
and its interactive tool
[https://projects.research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/en/statistics/performance-indicators/european-innovation-scoreboard/eis#/]
to better understand how innovation is evolving across Europe. 

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Publication Date/Time
2026-05-06T08:00:00+00:00
Long-term progress, emerging challenges, and the role of data in
driving innovation