Press Release: Convergence of innovation performance in the EU

The 2007 European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) published on 14 February, 2008, showed a continued process of convergence within the EU. Five EU Member States - Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom – continued to have a very strong performance as world innovation leaders alongside the US and Japan. Meanwhile, the large majority of other Member States were catching up with the leaders, and three of the newer Member States - Estonia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania - were on track to reach the EU average innovation performance within a decade. The comparison with the US shows that an important overall lead continued to exist over the EU and that the overall positive catching up process visible in particular in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investments, broadband penetration, early stage venture capital and international patenting had recently slowed down.