Switzerland continues to lead the European Innovation Scoreboard in 2024

Switzerland has once again taken the lead in the 2024 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard, consolidating its position as a leader in innovation in Europe.

Switzerland has once again demonstrated its innovation leadership by maintaining its top position in the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024. With a performance score of 138.4% of the EU average, Switzerland excels in several key areas, including education, scientific collaboration and environmental technologies. This continued dominance underscores Switzerland’s robust innovation ecosystem and its commitment to fostering cutting-edge research and development.

Between 2023 and 2024, national innovation performance improved in 15 Member States, but declined in 11 others, while Croatia remained stable. Denmark retains its position as the most innovative EU country, followed by Sweden. Notably, Estonia has moved into the Strong Innovator category, while Belgium has moved from Innovation Leader to Strong Innovator, maintaining its fifth position overall.

Switzerland remains the most innovative country in Europe, while South Korea continues to lead the world. China has overtaken Japan and is gradually closing the innovation gap with the EU.

The EU shows a robust performance on several indicators, in particular SMEs introducing product and process innovations and environmental technologies. However, the EU faces challenges in areas such as intellectual capital, collaboration among innovative SMEs and business R&D expenditure compared to its main global competitors.

Switzerland’s performance in detail

Switzerland’s leading position, with a performance score of 138.4% of the EU average, highlights its strengths in various indicators:

• New Doctorate Graduates: 191.7%
• International Scientific Co-publications: 288.6%
• Foreign Doctorate Students: 264.4%
• Public-Private Co-publications: 489
• Resource Productivity: 188.1%
• Air Emissions by Fine Particulates: 122.7%

These figures demonstrate Switzerland’s excellence in education, scientific collaboration, resource management, and environmental technologies.

Commitment to excellence and resilience

While Switzerland continues to excel, the innovation landscape is undergoing dynamic changes. Indicators such as sales of innovative products and SMEs with product innovations have declined since 2016, but there has been significant growth in employed ICT specialists, job-to-job mobility of Human Resources in Science and Technology (HRST), and environmental technologies.

Switzerland’s dominance in the European Innovation Scoreboard underscores its commitment to leading the innovation landscape. Despite maintaining its top position, the country faces challenges and dynamic changes in various indicators that require constant attention.

The European Innovation Scoreboard is an annual publication of the European Commission that provides a comparative assessment of the innovation performance of EU Member States, neighboring European countries and selected global competitors. The 2024 EIS covers all EU Member States, 12 European neighbouring countries (including Moldova for the first time) and 11 global competitors with a smaller set of indicators.