Hungary lags behind in European innovation ranking

Innovation performance has increased by 12.5% ​​since 2014. The process of convergence continues within the European Union: Poorer performing countries are developing faster than higher performers, thus reducing the innovation gap between them.

According to the Regional Innovation 2021 scoreboard, also published today, this trend also applies to innovation in the EU regions. Globally, the European Union outperforms China, Brazil, South Africa, Russia and India, while South Korea, Canada, Australia, the United States and Japan outperform the European Union. This year’s European Innovation Scoreboard is based on a revised framework that includes new indicators for digitization and environmental sustainability, and brings the scoreboard more in line with EU policy priorities.

Main results

Based on their findings, EU countries can be divided into four performance groups: leading innovators, high innovators, moderate innovators, and late innovators.

Hungary belongs to the group of late innovatorsAnd the Its overall innovation rate is 67.9% of the EU average. All regions of the country give a typical performance of late innovators, with the exception of the capital: Budapest is one of the moderate innovators at the regional level.

• Comparing the EU average with selected global competitors, it can be seen that South Korea is the most innovative country, overtaking the EU by 36% in 2014 and 21% in 2021. According to this year’s innovation record indicators, the EU is ahead of the China, Brazil, South Africa, Russia and India, while Canada, Australia, the United States and Japan are ahead of the European Union.
• In the period since 2014, out of a total of 240 regions, innovation performance rose in 225 regions. Over time, regional performances have converged and the gap between regional performances has narrowed.
• The most innovative European region is Stockholm, Sweden, followed by southern Finland in Finland and highest Bavaria in Germany. Hovedstaden in Denmark is fourth and Zurich in Switzerland is fifth.

Cover image source: Getty Images.