Estonian innovation gets higher status in new report

Estonia has climbed into a higher innovation category according to new data from the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS). Estonia became a Strong Innovator in 2024, after enjoying steady growth since 2017, the European Commission (EC) wrote in a statement released on Monday 8 July.

The EC wrote that “Strong Innovators demonstrate significant strengths in their innovation ecosystems (product and business innovations)”.

In order of ranking in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Estonia was first, followed by ‘Moderate Innovators’ Slovenia, Czechia, Lithuania and Hungary.

The EC wrote “among the Moderate Innovators, there is a range of positive trends, in particular the development of collaboration in research; whereas Emerging Innovators have shown an overall positive trajectory in innovation performance, but they are still lagging.”

In the ‘Emerging Innovators’ category were Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Bulgaria, and in final place, Romania. The only country other than Estonia to change category was Belgium, which moved downwards from Innovation leader, to the Strong Innovators category, although it maintained its fifth position overall. Denmark remains the EU’s most innovative country, ahead of Sweden.

The EC added that “The innovation performance of the European Union continues to improve at a steady pace, reaching a 10% increase since 2017 and a growth of 0.5% between 2023 and 2024.

“According to the 2024 edition of the EIS published today, most EU member states have boosted their innovation performance, but the increase varies strongly from one to another. Between 2023 and 2024, the national innovation performance has increased for 15 member states, while it has declined for another group of 11. Croatia remained stable,” the EC added.

“The European Innovation Scoreboard 2024 shows we have made significant progress in innovation performance in recent years,” European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Iliana Ivanova said.

“However, innovation divide persists between the member states, and the EU also has potential to improve its standing in the global innovation race. We must continue our efforts, particularly in striving for more private investment in research and innovation,” the Bulgarian commissioner added.

“This year’s European Innovation Scoreboard confirms that the EU is an industrial and research powerhouse,” European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton said.

“In today’s global race for resilience and competitiveness, it has all it takes to position itself as a standard-setter and technological hub. Now we need to build on this technological edge to be industrial and commercial leaders in the markets of tomorrow.

“Resilient and diversified supply chains and a modern Single Market will remain at the core of well performing and innovative companies that create jobs for Europeans,” Breton added.

According to the EC, “although the performance differences have slightly narrowed among the Strong Innovators and Moderate Innovators between 2017 and 2024, they became more pronounced among the Innovation Leaders and Emerging Innovators.

“There are also persistent geographic differences in innovation performance, with Innovation Leaders and most Strong Innovators predominantly located in Northern and Western Europe, and many of the Moderate and Emerging innovators in Southern and Eastern Europe.”