BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Tuesday said in a latest report that innovation performance of the European Union (EU) has improved last year, but more progress is needed.
According to the annual European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden are innovation leaders who perform 20 percent or more above the EU average.
At the same time, Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Slovenia are strong innovators who are above or close to the EU average.
The EIS shows that innovation performance has improved most in the areas of international co-publications, broadband penetration, the number of university graduates and doctorates, and Information Communications Technology (ICT) training.
It is predicted by the report that over the next two years, innovation performance is expected to increase by 2 percent.
However, venture capital investments and the share of Small and Medium Enterprises introducing innovations have been in strong decline, says the report.
The EIS provides a comparative assessment of research and innovation performance and the relative strengths and weaknesses of national research and innovation systems.
It allows policy-makers to assess relative strengths and weaknesses, track progress, and identify priority areas to boost innovation performance.
It covers the EU member states as well as Iceland, Macedonia Israel, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine. It also rates Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States.
The report points out that China showed the fastest progress among international competitors.
