German Innovation Exceeds European Average

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Berlin - Germany receives above average marks for innovation compared to the 27 member states of the European Union. Alongside Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries, Germany shares a spot among innovation leaders.

Berlin - Germany receives above average marks for innovation compared to the 27 member states of the European Union. Alongside Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries, Germany shares a spot among innovation leaders. Germany is also cited as one of the countries with a rate of improvement above the EU average. This is the result of the newly published European Innovation Scoreboard 2009 (EIS).

In terms of relative strengths compared to the country’s average performance, the EIS highlights Germany’s large number of innovative companies that introduce product or process innovations internally or in the market. The success of the German economy in the fields of human resources, exports, and finance are also presented as strengths for Germany. German innovation has proven to be a reliable pillar for the economy throughout the economic crisis. The EIS also shows that the countries performing poorly in terms of innovation capacity are also those hardest hit by the downturn.

Since 2001, the EIS has been published annually on behalf of the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission. The report is prepared by the Maastricht Economic and Social Research and Training Center on Innovation and Technology. The comparison shows that Europe’s innovation strength significantly surpasses that of the aspiring BRIC states. However the innovative capacity of the USA is yet to be beaten.

Germany makes a positive contribution to the total capacity of Europe. The 2009 EIS contained 29 indicators that evaluated the individual EU countries in terms of potential, activities carried out by companies and results. The countries were then divided into four categories: the "catching-up countries" (Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania), whose innovation capacity was below the European average, the "moderate innovators", the "innovation followers" and the "innovation leaders". Germany placed among the innovation leaders along with Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Great Britain. However the innovation capacity of Great Britain and Sweden stagnated, while it increased for Germany and Finland.

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