European Innovation Scoreboard 2025

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), which was first officially published in 2001, following a pilot version in 2000. Over the past 25 years, the EIS has become the EU’s primary tool for tracking innovation performance and guiding evidence-based policymaking across Member States, neighbouring countries, and in comparison to global competitors. By highlighting strengths and areas for improvement, it enables stakeholders to focus their efforts more effectively. The Scoreboard is complemented by a set of structural indicators that take national socio-economic contexts into account, offering a deeper understanding of innovation outcomes.

According to the Scoreboard, the EU’s overall innovation performance has improved by 12.6 percentage points since 2018. While all EU Member States have shown progress over this longer timeframe, the degree of improvement varies across countries. However, between 2024 and 2025, there was a slight decline of 0.4 percentage points in the EU’s innovation performance. During this most recent period, 13 Member States recorded gains, while 14 experienced a decrease in performance.

Sweden has reclaimed its position as the EU’s top innovator, surpassing Denmark, which held the leading spot from 2020 to 2024. Notably, Croatia has made significant progress, boosting its innovation performance by 19.4 percentage points between 2018 and 2025. This improvement has elevated Croatia from the Emerging Innovators category to the Moderate Innovators group.

Read the full study.