New JRC Study: Technological and Creative Performances in Numbers Across Urban and Rural Regions

Newly developed indicators from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) provide the most detailed picture yet of innovation performance across Europe’s territories, confirming a persistent urban–rural divide while highlighting rural regions that defy the trend.

For the first time, the indicators have been designed at a sufficiently granular level to capture differences between urban, intermediate and rural regions. Drawing on newly developed metrics on research and development (R&D) investment, patents, trademarks and industrial designs, the study paints a nuanced portrait of innovation capacity across the EU.

While innovation activity remains heavily concentrated in urban areas, the analysis also uncovers significant diversity among rural territories and identifies rural regions with particularly strong innovation ecosystems. 

The study shows that R&D investment across EU regions remains highly concentrated in cities. Urban regions invest on average around 2.4% of their GDP in R&D, compared with 1.6% in rural regions.

Patent activity mirrors the broader pattern of geographic concentration. Urban regions record approximately 510 patent applications per 100,000 inhabitants, while rural regions average around 180. 

Trademarks, which reflect branding efforts often associated with new product launches and market expansion, are also strongly clustered geographically. Small, open economies such as Luxembourg, Cyprus, Estonia and Austria lead on a per capita basis, with stocks of EU trademarks ranging from roughly 1,400 to 440 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Industrial design activity, highlighting the creative and product-development dimension of innovation, also shows a pronounced territorial gradient. Urban regions hold an average of 156 EU industrial designs per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with 56 in rural regions.

Read the full study.