3.3 Innovation dimenstions

3.3 . Innovation dimenstions

The performance of the four country groups across the different innovation dimensions is shown in Figure 4 (country level profiles are provided in Section 7). 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 the 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.

 

Figure 5: Country groups: Growth performance per dimension Average annual growth rates as calculated over a five-year period.

 

Growth performance of the four country groups shows some similarities as well as differences (Figure 5). In all groups, the strongest drivers of growth are Throughputs, Finance and support and Human resources. The Moderate innovators and Catching-up countries show improvements in Economic effects, Linkages & entrepreneurship and Firm investments, while the Innovation leaders and Innovation followers are on average stagnating or declining across these dimensions except for Firm investments. Three groups show some decline in the Innovators dimension, only the Catching-up countries show some improvement. Figure 5 confirms that the overall convergence process as shown in Figure 3 also generally takes place within each innovation dimension.

Country rankings for each innovation dimension are shown in Figures 6 and 7. Within the different innovation dimensions, the Innovation leaders on average take the leading spots, in particular in the Enablers and Firm activities dimensions, followed by the Innovation followers (Figure 6). Growth performance is dominated by the Moderate innovators and Catching-up countries in all dimensions (Figure 7) [2]. Figures 6 and 7 combined lead to a number of interesting observations which will be discussed next.

Innovation leaders (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom)
All Innovation leaders except Germany perform well in Human resources. However, these countries are among the slow to average growers in this dimension. This may be due to their high performance level which means that there is less room for rapid improvements. Within Finance and support Germany is showing the weakest performance and also its growth performance is relatively weak. Switzerland and the UK are the only Innovation leaders showing a strong growth in this dimension, in particular due to very rapid growth in Venture capital for Switzerland and Broadband access by the UK. All Innovation leaders combine a high performance level in Firm investments with either moderate rates of improvement (Finland, Germany, UK) or moderate declines (Denmark, Sweden). 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, Germany and Sweden. Within the Innovators dimension, performance is most unequal, with Germany and Switzerland performing very strongly and Denmark, Finland and Sweden performing moderately. Only Finland has managed to improve its performance in this dimension showing the fastest growth of all countries. Germany is leading in Economic effects and as Finland and Switzerland it managed to improve its performance in this dimension relative to that of the EU27.

Innovation followers (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia)
In Human resources Ireland is notable in combining a high performance level and a strong growth performance. Austria, Belgium, France and Luxembourg are among the slowest growers in Human resources across the EU27 and Estonia and Ireland are among the fastest growers. Iceland and the Netherlands are performing relatively well in Finance and support; Austria, Belgium, Ireland and Slovenia are performing below the EU27 average. Luxembourg is showing the fastest rate of improvement of the Innovation followers whereas Austria and France are showing almost no improvement. Austria and Estonia are performing strongly in Firm investments where both also show a high rate of improvement relative to the other Innovation followers. All Innovators followers, except Luxembourg, show above average performance in Linkages & entrepreneurship. Growth performance of Luxembourg and Ireland is among the worst of all countries but Cyprus is showing the overall highest rate of improvement. Most Innovation followers do relatively well in Throughputs, in particular Luxembourg, which is also showing an above EU27 average growth performance. Also Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, and Slovenia show a relative improvement in their performance compared with the EU27 average. All Innovation followers perform above the EU27 average in the Innovators dimension except Iceland and the Netherlands, but the Netherlands is the only Innovation follower which has managed to improve its performance. In Economic effects Ireland is showing the strongest performance followed by Austria and France, and Austria, Estonia and in particular Cyprus are showing the highest rates of improvement.

Moderate innovators (Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain)
In Human resources Lithuania, Norway and Poland show above EU27 average performance, and, except for Hungary and Spain, all Moderate innovators show an above EU27 rate of improvement with Malta and Portugal showing the overall highest rates of improvement. In Finance and support only Portugal and Spain show above EU27 average performance; Czech Republic and Greece are among the fastest growing countries. In Firm investments Czech Republic performs above the EU27 average and six Moderate innovators have managed to improve their performance relative to that of the EU27, in particular Portugal and Spain. Linkages & entrepreneurship shows two Moderate innovators performing above average. Except for Spain all Moderate innovators show an above EU27 rate of improvement with Greece and Malta being among the fastest growers of all countries. In Throughputs all Moderate innovators perform below average. Nine of these countries have managed to improve their performance faster than the EU27 in this dimension, while the growth performance of Italy and Spain is among the weakest of all countries. In Innovators Czech Republic, Greece and Portugal show above EU27 average performance; only Greece and Slovakia have managed to improve their performance in this dimension. Czech Republic, Malta and Slovakia perform above average in Economic effects while all other Moderate innovators perform below average. Growth performance of Greece and Hungary is among the highest of all countries, and also Czech Republic, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain have grown faster than the EU27.

Catching-up countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey)
The Catching-up countries generally perform below EU27 average on Human resources, with the exception of Latvia. Growth performance is above average, with all countries growing at a rate above average [3]. Performance in Finance and Support is below average for all Catching-up countries, but Bulgaria, Latvia, Turkey and in particular Romania have grown faster than average. Of the Catching-up countries Romania is the best performer in Firm investments, while Bulgaria and Turkey are among the fastest growing countries. In Linkages & entrepreneurship no Catching-up country is performing above the EU27 average but the majority of countries have grown faster than the EU27 average with only Latvia experiencing a strong decline in performance. In Throughputs all Catching-up countries perform below average but are also showing the strongest rates of improvement. Bulgaria and Romania are the fastest growing of all countries in Throughputs and also Latvia and Turkey show high rates of improvement. Performance in Innovators shows that Croatia and Turkey are performing above the EU27 average, but also that three Catching-up countries have the lowest levels of performance. Only two Catching-up countries have managed to improve their performance, in particular Bulgaria, which is having one of the fastest rates of improvement. None of the Catching-up countries is performing above EU27 average in Economic effects. Growth performance is more diverse, with only Bulgaria improving at a slower rate than the EU27 average.

 

 

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