On 22 September the European Commission published the new edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard. The most significant finding is that the EU's innovation performance has grown by approximately 10% since 2015. According to the report, Belgium and the Netherlands are among the “Innovation Leaders” with scores of resp. 128,8 and 129,3%.
Innovation leaders
The Scoreboard separates EU Member States, according to their scores, into 4 performance groups:
- Innovation Leaders (with a performance score above 125% of the EU average)
- Strong Innovators (between 100% and 125% of the EU average)
- Moderate Innovators (between 70% and 100% of the EU average)
- Emerging Innovators (below 70% of the EU average).
Relative to 2015, the Netherlands improved on its innovation performance by almost 10%. This means that in 2022 the country falls in the group of ‘Innovation Leaders’, along with Belgium, which raised its performance by even more than 16%. With a score of 114,5%, Luxembourg falls in the group of ‘Strong Innovators’.
Hugues Derème, Deputy Director General at BOIP: “As the official body for the registration of trademarks, designs and drawings in the Benelux, we are excited about this impressive growth in innovation performance in the Benelux countries and throughout the EU. Together with our partners in the Benelux and beyond, we ensure that companies are able to protect their innovations in as simple a manner as possible.”
IP as an indicator of innovation
To determine the scores, 32 performance indicators of innovation were looked at, including how IP rights were developing in the EU, such as the number of patent (PCT) and Community design applications. The number of applications for EU trademarks was also taken as an indicator for a country’s innovation performance for this report.
Hugues Derème: “For many companies applying to register a trademark is an important step in the development and marketing of their innovations. The number of applications to register trademarks is therefore also being used increasingly frequently as an indicator in innovation studies.”
What significance does the Scoreboard hold for innovation?
The Scoreboard shows that the most innovative countries generally perform the best in a variety of fields. In other words, in order to achieve high performance, countries need a balanced ecosystem in which innovation is supported and facilitated in all kinds of different ways. Consider, for instance, investments in education, research and skills development, the stimulation of cooperation in innovation between companies and universities, and a robust digital infrastructure. The figures in the report show how countries score on all these aspects, and how innovation in both specific countries and in the EU as a whole can be better supported.
The full report is available on the European Commission's website.