Republic in ninth place in ranking of top EU innovators

The State has placed ninth in the European Commission’s annual “innovation scoreboard” which ranks member states according to how innovative they are.

While the Republic has moved up one space compared to 2019, this is due to the exclusion of the UK, rather than any improvement in performance.

Sweden continues to be the EU innovation leader, followed by Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands. This year Luxembourg also joined the group of “innovation leaders”.

The State is included in the “strong innovators” grouping along with Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Estonia and Portugal.

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The Innovation Union Scoreboard, which was first published in 2009, draws on 27 different indicators including entrepreneurship, intellectual assets and research systems.

Top in EU

For the third year in a row, the State is top in the EU for both the employment impacts and sales impacts of innovation. It also performs well in the human resource, attractive research system, and innovator indicators, having achieved overall scores above 120 per cent of the EU average in each of these categories.

"It is great to see Ireland's innovation strengths being recognised among our European peers. As we have already seen this year in the rapid response to the Covid-19 pandemic by our scientists, higher education institutes and enterprises, research and innovation is relevant for all of us in our daily lives," said Minister for Innovation Heather Humphreys.

“Now more than ever, it is beyond doubt that research and innovation will have an essential role in supporting the recovery, improving public services, living standards and the quality of life of all citizens,” she added.

This year’s report shows that, overall, the EU’s innovation performance continues to increase at a steady pace. At the international level, it maintains a performance lead over the US and China, but there is still a gap to close with some competitors, including Japan and South Korea.