The European Commission’s 2015 Innovation Union Scoreboard shows that Europe’s overall level of innovation is not improving as hoped, and that a lack of private investment is causing the EU to fall further behind the US, Japan and South Korea.
The scoreboard, published on 7 May, shows a mixed picture for innovation in Europe, with 13 member states showing a decline in innovation and 15 showing an improvement. Though the innovation gap between member states appears to be narrowing, large differences in innovation still remain. Overall innovation is not improving, and the EU is falling behind in R&D investment globally, the Commission stated on 7 May.
Presenting the results at a briefing, research commissioner Carlos Moedas blamed the stall in the EU’s overall innovation performance on a lack of private investment into R&D. Moedas said there was a drop in the number of average patent applications, as well as decreased venture capital investment in 16 member states. This decrease in private investment was explained as a delayed reaction to the economic crisis by the Commission.
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