Tracking country innovation performance : the Innovation Output Indicator 2022

This report presents the 2022 results of the Innovation Output Indicator (IOI), which is a composite indicator published by the European Commission since 2013 to offer an output-oriented measure of innovation performance at the country and EU levels and measure countries' capacity to derive economic benefits from innovation. This edition is based on a revised methodological framework and structure of the index, which aimed at improving the statistical properties of the index and aligning it with the new policy priorities set by the Commission. The report presents the latest figures for the composite index and its underlying indicators for 44 countries, including European Union (EU) Member States (MSs) and selected EFTA, OECD and emerging economies. According to the IOI, Sweden and Germany are the best performers in the EU and are followed by Finland, Ireland and Belgium. Germany outperforms the other EU countries in the domestic value added content of its knowledge-intensive manufacturing exports, whereas Sweden is very strong in terms of IP applications. Conversely, Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria reported the lowest performance among EU countries. The EU, as a single block, leads New Zealand, China, Australia and Brazil, but it still lags behind its main competitors, including United States, South Korea and Japan. IOI findings are complemented by an analysis of EU radical innovator and exporter companies, referred to as "global innovation champions" (GICs), and of innovative startups and scaleups, which is based on recent waves of the Eurostat Community Innovation Survey. The aim of this section of the report is to examine the characteristics of these types of firms, which are important drivers of innovation and economic growth, and contribute to understanding what sets them apart from other firms.