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Ireland above EU average when it comes to innovation

Ireland is one of the EU countries that has an above average performance in innovation according to the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011 just published by the European Commission. Relative Irish strengths are in human resources and in open, excellent and attractive research systems. However, there is still room for improvement.

Ireland has relative weaknesses in finance and support, linkages & entrepreneurship, intellectual assets and innovators. High growth was observed for international scientific co-publications and community designs. However, a strong decline was registered for SMEs introducing product or process innovations and SMEs collaborating with others. Growth performance in human resources, open, excellent and attractive research systems and intellectual assets is well above average in Ireland.

In general almost all EU Member States have improved their innovation performance according to the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011. However, innovation performance growth is slowing down and the EU is not closing the persistent gap with global innovation leaders, the US, Japan and South Korea. The largest gap for the EU27 remains in terms of private sector innovation.

The EU still maintains a clear lead over the emerging economies of China, Brazil, India, Russia, and South Africa. However, China is improving its innovation performance and is catching up progressively. Within the EU, Sweden confirms its position at the top of the overall ranking, followed closely by Denmark, Germany and Finland. Firms' innovation activities stand out as an important factor to achieve top positions at EU and international level.

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: "This year’s results are a clear warning that more efforts to boost innovation are needed. If we want to close the gap with our main economic partners and to overcome the current crisis, innovation deserves all our attention. In particular I count on enterprises as they have proven to be the key to success in innovation. But successful start ups in other parts of the world show that some lessons are still need to be learnt in Europe.”

“We need balanced national research and innovation systems that provide an innovation-friendly environment for business. The Scoreboard also identifies a gap with the US in terms of top-end research. We urgently need a European Research Area to inject fresh competition, generate more excellence, and attract and retain the best global talent", said Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science.

Background

The 2011 Innovation Union Scoreboard draws currently on 24 indicators that are grouped into three main categories and 8 dimensions:

■"Enablers", i.e. the basic building blocks which allow innovation to take place (Human resources, open, excellent and attractive research systems, and finance and support);
■"Firm activities", which capture innovation efforts in European firms (firm investments, linkages & entrepreneurship, and intellectual assets); and
■"Outputs" which show how this translates into benefits for the economy as a whole (innovators and economic effects, including employment).
For further information:

To access the full report please click here

For individual summaries of the innovation performance of all 27 Member States, and other European countries click here

For specific country research related data, please click here.