According to a new report from the European Commission, the Netherlands ranks fifth among EU member states for innovation.
The 2013 Innovation Union Scoreboard tracked EU member states’ performance in areas including R&D expenditures, patent applications, and innovation activities of small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The report found that the EU is becoming more innovative as a whole, but the gap between countries is widening. Drivers of innovation growth in the EU include SMEs and the commercialization of innovations, together with excellent research systems. However, decreases in business and venture capital funding have hurt innovation advancement in the last five years.
The annual Innovation Union Scoreboard provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance of the EU member states, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of their research and innovation systems. It helps Member States assess areas in which they need to concentrate their efforts in order to boost their innovation performance.
Source: European Commission
