Innovation dimensions

The performance of the four country groups across the different innovation dimensions is shown in Figure 4 (country profiles are provided in Section 6). The Innovation leaders and the Innovation followers have the smallest variance in their performance across the different dimensions [1]. This suggests that high levels of performance require countries to perform relatively well over all the dimensions of innovation. For the Innovation followers performance in Firm investments is a relative weakness.

For Moderate innovators and Catching-up countries the pattern of performance is less balanced across the dimensions. Moderate innovators, on average, show a relatively strong performance in Finance and support and a relatively weak performance in Throughputs. The Catching-up countries show a relatively strong performance in Economic effects and a relatively weak performance in Throughputs. The Catching-up countries do worse in all dimensions compared to the other country groups, only in Economic effects their performance comes close to that of the Moderate innovators.

Innovation leaders (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, UK)
All Innovation leaders perform well in Human resources. One exception is Germany, which, however, shows a better growth performance than the rest of this group. The low growth of the other countries may be due to their high performance level which means that there is less room for rapid improvements. Within Finance and support, the UK is the only Innovation leader showing a strong growth, in particular due to very rapid growth in Venture capital and Broadband access. In this dimension, Germany is showing a relatively weaker performance combined with low growth. All Innovation leaders combine a high performance level in Firm investments with either moderate rates of improvement (Finland, Germany, Switzerland) or moderate declines (Denmark, Sweden, UK). In Linkages & entrepreneurship all Innovation leaders show a strong performance, but only Finland, Germany and Switzerland have managed to improve their performance. Switzerland is the best performer in Throughputs and it also has the highest growth rate, closely followed by Finland and Sweden. Within the Innovators dimension, performance is most unequal, with Germany and Switzerland performing very strongly, Denmark, Finland and Sweden performing moderately and the UK performing relatively weak. Only Finland has managed to improve its performance in this dimension. Germany and Sweden are leading in Economic effects and are the only Innovation leaders who managed to improve their performance in this dimension. The UK shows a relatively weaker performance here with both the lowest performance level of the Innovation leaders and the sharpest decline.

Innovation followers (Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands)
In Human resources Ireland is notable in combining a high performance level and a strong growth performance. Belgium and Luxembourg are among the slowest growers in Human resources across the EU, but still managed to marginally improve their performance. The Netherlands is performing relatively well in Finance and support but its growth is below average. Luxembourg is showing the fastest rate of improvement across the EU in this dimension, while Austria is among the slowest growers due in particular to a decline in Venture capital performance. Austria is performing strongly in Firm investments and Linkages & entrepreneurship, where it also shows a high rate of improvement relative to the other Innovation followers. Luxembourg recorded a strong decline in performance on Linkages & entrepreneurship. All Innovation followers do relatively well in Throughputs, in particular Luxembourg, which is also showing an above EU average growth performance. The other Innovation followers have experienced lower growth than the EU average. All Innovation followers perform above the EU average in the Innovators dimension except the Netherlands, but it is the only Innovation follower which has managed to improve its performance. Performance in Economic effects is quite similar, with Ireland showing the strongest performance, and Austria showing the highest rate of improvement.

Moderate innovators (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain)
In Human resources Estonia, Norway and Slovenia show above EU average performance, and, except for Greece, Slovenia and Spain, all Moderate innovators show an above EU rate of improvement. In particular Cyprus, Italy and Portugal have managed to achieve high growth rates. In Finance and support it is Iceland which shows overall highest performance of all countries and the fastest rate of improvement [2]. Also Spain has managed to combine above average EU27 levels of performance and rates of improvement. In Firm investments four Moderate innovators perform above EU average and five countries have managed to improve their performance. In particular, Estonia is the country with the highest rate of improvement of any country as a result of strong improvements in Business R&D expenditures and Non-R&D innovation expenditures. Linkages & entrepreneurship shows four Moderate innovators performing above average, and of these Cyprus has the overall fastest rate of improvement of any country. Iceland, Norway and Spain show a decline in their performance in this dimension. In Throughputs all Moderate innovators perform below average. Seven of these countries have managed to improve their performance faster than the EU27 in this dimension, while the growth performance of Estonia, Italy and Spain, albeit positive, is among the weakest of all countries. Innovators is the dimension where the Moderate innovators perform relatively best, with Cyprus, Greece and Portugal among the best performing EU countries. However, in terms of growth, only Greece and Portugal have managed to improve their performance in this dimension. The Czech Republic performs above average in Economic effects while all other Moderate innovators perform below average. Growth performance of Cyprus and Greece is highest of all countries, and also Estonia, Portugal and Spain have grown faster than the EU27.

Catching-up countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey)
The Catching-up countries generally perform below EU average on Human resources, with the exception of Lithuania and Poland. Growth performance is average, with five countries growing at a rate below average and Croatia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia managing to grow faster than the EU27. Performance in Finance and Support is below average for all Catching-up countries, but Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia have grown faster than average. Of the Catching-up countries Slovakia is the best performer in Firm investments, while Bulgaria, Latvia and Turkey are among the fastest growing countries and also Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Romania have improved their performance. Slovakia is showing a strong decline in performance in this dimension due to declining Business R&D expenditures. In Linkages & entrepreneurship no Catching-up country is performing above the EU27 average but the majority countries have grown faster than the EU27 average with only Latvia and Lithuania experiencing a decline in their performance. Throughputs is the other dimension where all Catching-up countries perform below average but are also showing the strongest rates of improvement. Bulgaria, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey are the fastest growing of all countries in this dimension. Performance in Innovators shows that Croatia and Turkey are performing above the EU27 average [3], but also that seven Catching-up countries have the lowest levels of performance. Only three Catching-up countries have managed to improve their performance, in particular Bulgaria, which is having one of the fastest rates of improvement. Malta is the only Catching-up country performing above EU average in Economic effects, but also Hungary and Slovakia are performing relatively well. Growth performance is more diverse, with a decline in growth for two countries, and at the same time, Hungary, Romania and Turkey among the overall fastest growing countries.