Filenews 15 July 2024
Cyprus is doing very well in innovation and in fact showed the fastest performance growth than the EU average and is in 10th place in the category of strong innovators.
The top performers overall in 2024 are Member States Denmark and Cyprus, and non-EU countries Switzerland and Iceland, all with a score of 386, almost three times higher than the EU average. Estonia has become a "strong innovation player" with performance steadily increasing since 2017.
These 'innovation champions' have highly attractive research systems and a high track record in digitalisation. In particular, in the indicators related to the innovation development framework (human resources/education, research, digitalisation), Cyprus is improving. The same applies to indicators relating to innovation activities (presence of innovative enterprises, cooperation, patent and design copyright).
The figures are part of the publication of the European Innovation Scoreboard and show that most EU Member States have increased their innovation performance, although the extent to which they have improved varies considerably. Between 2023 and 2024, the EU's innovation performance improved by 0.5 percentage points. In particular, innovation performance increased in 15 Member States and 11 Member States declined.
Between 2017 and 2024, performance in international scientific publications improved for all Member States. The performance of 20 countries improved relatively faster than the EU average, with Cyprus (+207% points) recording the largest increase while France showed the smallest improvement performance over this time period. Between 2023 and 2024, Cyprus recorded the largest increase (+13% points), while Luxembourg (-22% points) recorded the most severe decline.
Between 2017 and 2024, performance in broadband penetration increased for the vast majority of Member States, decreased for only two Member States and remained unchanged for one State.
However, compared to the EU average, only 8 Member States improved relatively faster and 19 Member States progressed at a slower pace. Cyprus (+132% points) showed the largest increase in relative performance and Belgium (-10% points) recorded the largest decline. Between 2023 and 2024, thirteen Member States showed a higher increase in relative performance than the EU average, one Member State improved at the same pace and 13 Member States progressed relatively more slowly. Cyprus (+36% points) saw the largest increase in yield, while Belgium (-7% points) showed the largest downward trend.
Between 2023 and 2024, performance among ICT employees improved for 11 Member States, remained unchanged for 6 and decreased for 10 Member States. Compared to the EU on average, the vast majority of Member States showed slower growth. Cyprus (+26% points) showed the biggest improvement and Slovenia (-23% points) recorded the biggest decline.
Cyprus' weaknesses concern direct and indirect state support for business research and development, self-spending on research and development, and the ratio of innovation expenditure per employee.
