In 2021, Switzerland had the highest innovation score in Europe, according to a report published by the European Commission this week.
Switzerland’s innovation score of 162.3 put it comfortably ahead of Sweden (156.5), the European nation in second place.
The score measures innovation across 12 areas, which include workforce education, research systems (international research publications), digitalisation, finance and support, investment, use of IT, product and business process innovation, linkages (public-private and between companies), intellectual assets, level of employment in knowledge-intensive activities, sales impacts and environmental sustainability.
Switzerland excels in intellectual assets, research, and education, lifelong learning in particular.
Overall, Switzerland is well ahead of its neighbours on the scoreboard. Germany (137.9), Austria (133.6), France (122.3) and Italy (108.1) all trail Switzerland’s score of 162.3 by sizeable margins.
At a more geographically granular level, Zurich is the 5th most innovative region in Europe, behind Stockholm (1st), Etelä-Suomi in Finland (2nd), Oberbayern in Germany (3rd) and Hovedstaden in Denmark (4th).
Switzerland’s weak points are finance, support and investment. R&D expenditures in the public sector, government support for business R&D and R&D expenditure in the business sector are all relatively weak in Switzerland.
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European commission scoreboard (in English)
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