Brussels, 04/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - Presenting the latest balance sheet of the Europe of Innovation on Tuesday 4 March, the European Commission had some good news and some bad news.
The good news is extremely welcome to Europe, as even with a stagnating economy, it is starting close the gap separating it from the United States. The bad news is less welcome, however, as the same Europe is fragmented and not only do the gaps between member states remain considerable, they are developing between the regions.
The Commission presented two scoreboards for innovation: the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2014 and the Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2014. The first paints a general picture of the EU, with a classification of the member states whilst drawing a comparison with the rest of the world. It shows that the EU remains behind South Korea, a gap which is increasing, the US and Japan.
The second scoreboard tackles the more complex job of analysing the innovation performances of 190 regions of the EU, Norway and Switzerland. The results of this scoreboard were summed up as follows by the Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn: “disparities continue to exist, even though certain regions are showing an uncontestable dynamism”.
So as to avoid blurring the overall image and confusing the political message which it hopes to get across, the Commission regrouped all of the results of the innovation scoreboard of the EU by creating four groups of member states, on the basis of their performance. This means that novice statisticians do not need to immerse themselves in all 25 indicators to find out the Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania are “modest innovators”, to use the Commission's terminology. These are a long way behind the champions of innovation, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Sweden (the champion of the champions, not including Switzerland), whose results are considerably above the EU average. There are two further groups in between these two: the “innovation followers” (central and northern Europe) and the “moderate innovators” (South West Europe).
In the view of the Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the key to success lies mainly in investment. This, she argues, justifies calling on the member states to make good on their commitment to spending 3% of their GDP on innovation by 2020. The results of this latest scoreboard do, however, question this observation. The member states with the best performances are those which have set in place systems for multi-dimensional innovation, in which all players, private and public, contribute to success within a balanced symbiosis.
The scoreboard also sheds light on a few somewhat unexpected curiosities. Portugal (a country under financial assistance) triumphed as the country whose innovation performance has increased the most in recent years, alongside Estonia and Latvia.
Regional scoreboard. For the first time, a scoreboard for regional innovation in Europe was created alongside the usual exercise. Of the 190 regions examined, innovation improved in 55 of them. The regions were divided up into the same categories as at national level. The regions of the “innovation champions” and “moderate innovators” countries come into the same categories, but half of the countries are also seeing two-speed innovation at regional level. Only the regions of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Greece and Switzerland are relatively similar on this subject. The Commission notes that a lack of funding is the main barrier to innovation in the European regions. However, Johannes Hahn pointed out that the new 2014-2020 version of the European structural funds provide for investments in research and innovation. The regions are called upon to draft “smart specialisation strategies (…) to boost their strengths”, he explained. He concluded by quoting Thomas Edison, the founder of General Electric and inventor of the modern electric light bulb: “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. (JK/MD)