Portugal is the 12th most innovative country in the European Union

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For the first time, Portugal joined the group of “strong innovators”, reaching its best position ever in the ranking of the European Commission’s annual publication: European Innovation Scoreboard 2020.

The European Innovation Scoreboard 2020 was published on 23 June. It’s a document that provides a comparative analysis of the performance of research and innovation in the countries of the European Union (EU), as well as in other European and regional neighboring countries.

The study assesses the strengths and weaknesses related to national innovation systems and helps countries to evaluate the areas in which they need to focus their efforts to increase their innovation performance. The study distinguishes between four main types of activity (structural conditions, public and private investments, innovation activities, impact of activities) covering a total of ten dimensions of innovation with 27 different indicators.

The 2020 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard highlights that the performance of innovation in the EU continues to increase at a steady pace. On average, the performance of EU innovation has increased by 8.9% since 2012, with the highest growth taking place in Portugal, Lithuania, Malta, Latvia, and Greece.

Portugal is now a “strong innovator” and the 12th most innovative in the EU. Sweden leads the ranking of innovation followed by countries such as Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

In 2019, Portugal was the leader of the group of “moderate innovators” and joined the group of “strong innovators” (countries that perform above or close to the EU average) this year. This group includes countries such as those mentioned above as well as Germany and France. Our country is also the leader, for the second consecutive year, in the dimension of the ranking focused on the level of innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), followed by Finland, Austria, and Belgium.

According to the study by the European Commission, the strongest innovation dimensions in Portugal are the favorable environment for innovation, attractive research systems, and the introduction of innovation in the market and organizations. Our country is above the EU average of indicators such as:

●     international scientific co-publications;

●     broadband penetration;

●     foreign doctorate students;

●     trademark applications;

●     non-R&D innovation expenditures;

●     companies with ICT training;

●     SMEs with product or process innovations;

●     SMEs with marketing or organizational innovations;

●     innovative SMEs working collaborating with others;

●     employment in knowledge-intensive activities.

On the other hand, Portugal’s lower indicator scores comprise the impact on sales and intellectual ties and assets. According to the document, Portugal is still below the European average in indicators such as the availability of private venture capital, Research and Development expenditures in the business sector, public-private co-publications, or exports of knowledge-intensive services.