Europe’s innovation performance strengthens amidst global competition

Europe’s innovation performance continues to improve, with the EU’s overall score rising by 11.6 percentage points since 2019, according to the 2026 European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), just released by the European Commission. This result marks nearly a decade of steady growth, highlighting the resilience of Europe’s innovation ecosystem in an increasingly competitive global environment.

Between 2025 and 2026, the EU’s innovation performance improved by 1.7 percentage points, following a more modest increase of 0.5 percentage points in the previous year. While all EU Member States have shown progress, performance varies significantly from country to country.

Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands once again lead the ranking, outperforming the EU average and retaining their status as ‘innovation leaders’. Finland maintains a strong stable fourth position, while Malta has made remarkable progress, crossing the threshold to become a ‘strong innovator’ (achieving 100–125% of the EU average).

Source: European Commission