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Innovation in Europe stable but needs new boost, says European Commission

Xinhua, May 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

The European Commission on Thursday unveiled the results of the 2015 Innovation Union Scoreboard, which revealed that innovation in Europe has remained stable overall but needs new boost.

The results showed that there have been improvements in human resources, business investments in research and development and the quality of science in the European Union (EU), according to a press release.

However, the crisis has left an impact on the private sector's innovative activity: there has been a drop in the number of innovative firms, venture capital investment, SME innovation, patent applications, exports of high-tech products and sales of innovative products.

Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Science, Research and Innovation, said at a press conference: "We need more investments to boost the EU's innovation performance. This should go hand in hand with better conditions and a single market for innovative products and services in Europe."

In the overall ranking, Sweden is once more the innovation leader, followed by Denmark, Finland and Germany. The fastest growing innovators are Malta, Latvia and Bulgaria, Ireland, Britain and Poland.

In global comparison, the EU continues to be outperformed by the United States, Japan and South Korea.

The European Commission is taking action to boost investment in R&D and venture financing through the European Fund for Strategic Investments and Capital Markets Union, in addition to the existing initiatives in Horizon 2020. Endit