Brussels, 17/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - Although until 2008 EU member states were able to constantly improve their results when it comes to innovation, the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2009, developed at the request of the European Commission by the institute of economic research on innovation and technology in Maastricht (UNU-MERIT) and presented to the press on Wednesday 17 March by European Commissioners Antonio Tajani (industry and enterprise) and Máire Geoghegan-Quin (research), highlights the fact that the economic crisis could compromise this positive evolution. The first results show that member states most affected by the crisis have the lowest levels of success, which could reverse the convergence process noted over recent years. At the same time, the latest statistics show that the EU is finding it hard to catch up the United States in terms of innovation, although it is still clearly ahead of the emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), despite the rapid improvements made by the Asian giant. Tajani explained that, although the picture is generally positive, there are some worrying signs which should be looked at carefully when developing measures for implementation of the new EUROPE 2020 strategy. The rise in investment in R&D and innovation are the key for overcoming the crisis and moving towards sustainable prosperity. That is why the Commission is maintaining its 3% of GDP target devoted to investment in the EU, and is suggesting realistic national targets that are not subject to rigorous follow-up, he said.
The 2009 scoreboard is made up of 29 indicators relating to innovation and provided by public data over the period 2007/2008 in the 27 EU member states plus Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, spread out over three categories: - means (human resources, funding and support), business activity (business investment, links and entrepreneurship, achievements) and results (innovative, economic effects). It does not, however, integrate the full impact of the recent economic and financial crisis. Depending on their results with regards innovation, the 27 EU member states can be ranked as follows: 1) as in previous years, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom are in the lead for innovation, with Germany and Finland improving their results very swiftly; 2) Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovenia are the countries following up in the ranks for innovation, a group recently joined by Estonia and Slovenia thanks to the constant improvements in innovation noted over recent years; 3) the Czech Republic, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland are moderate innovators; and 4) Lithuania, Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria are countries that are catching up, with results considerably below those of the EU but rapidly catching up to fill the gap compared to the EU. The pace of Bulgaria and Romania has been the fastest among member states since the last financial period. The complete version of the report is available at the following address: http: //http://www.proinno-europe.eu/metrics (E.H./transl.jl)