EU innovation performance continues to improve, with an increase of 11.6 percentage points since 2019, according to the 2026 European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), published by the European Commission on Thursday 9 July.
Between 2025 and 2026, EU innovation performance improved by 1.7 percentage points, following an increase of 0.5 percentage points the previous year. All Member States recorded progress, but the results vary considerably from one country to another. The increase ranges from 0.5 percentage points for Luxembourg to 19.8 percentage points for Estonia.
Between 2025 and 2026, 15 Member States improved their score compared to the previous year. Malta and Italy recorded the strongest progress, with increases of 15.7 and 5.0 percentage points respectively. The score of 12 Member States fell, notably in Finland (-2.7 percentage points) and Czechia (-2.5 percentage points).
Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands top the rankings, classified as ‘innovation leaders’ (performance 125% above the EU average), and Malta made remarkable progress, becoming a ‘strong innovator’ (reaching 100 to 125% of the EU average).
Finland, Belgium (previously an innovation leader), Ireland, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, France and Estonia are also ‘strong innovators’.
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Lithuania, Czechia, Greece and Hungary are ‘moderate innovators’, with performance below the EU average (70 to 100% of the EU average). Finally, Croatia (which was a ‘moderate innovator’), Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania are emerging innovator countries, with performance significantly below the EU average (less than 70% of the EU average).
See the scoreboard: https://aeur.eu/f/mtl (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)