Press release dated 31/03/2011
According to the new Innovation Union Scoreboard – IUS 2010 – the Basque Country is at number 15 in the EU-27 ranking
The Basque Country is among the group of high innovation countries, although at the lower end
In the new Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS 2010), the Basque Country scored 0.45 in 2010, according to Eustat data. It was therefore in 15th place on the European Union-27 ranking and under its average, which was 0.52.
The EU-27 countries, according to the rating achieved, can be grouped into four categories. In the first, innovation leader countries, came Sweden (0.75), Denmark (0.74), Finland (0.70) and Germany (0.70), although the European country at the forefront of innovation in Europe, Switzerland (0.83), does not belong to the European Union.
The second group, high innovation countries, included the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, France, Cyprus, Slovenia and Estonia, with ratings between 0.62 and 0.45. The Basque Country was also in this group, even though it was in last place.
Next came the third group, moderate innovators, which included the Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, Greece, Malta, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. Finally, the fourth group, low innovation countries, included Rumania, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latvia.
Human Resources, Firm Investment and Linkage & Entrepreneurship are the three basic dimensions of Basque innovation
The new Innovation Union Scoreboard – IUS 2010 -, which sets out to measure the degree to which economies of countries have the capacity and develop innovation activities, is structured in three main blocks, with eight dimensions, giving a total of 25 indicators.
The Basque Country, with regard to the European average, performed well in three of these dimensions: Human Resources, Firm Investment and Linkages & Entrepreneurship. In the other dimensions, the score obtained by the Community is lower than European Union average.
With regard to Human Resources, the dimensions that record the availability of highly qualified and educated people, as a key factor for innovation, the Basque Country stands out for percentage of the population aged 30 to 34 with higher education (41.0%), while the Community average stood at 32.3%. The percentage of young people (aged 20 to 24) who have finished at least Upper Secondary was similar in the Community (78.3%) and in the EU-27 (78.6%).
Firm Investment highlights the investments aimed at innovation, both in R&D and in similar areas. Special mention should be made here of the percentage of private spending in R&D as a percentage of the GDP (1.51%) in the Basque Country compared to the European average of 1.25%.
As far as Linkages and Entrepreneurship was concerned, a dimension which measures the relations and the level of cooperation between companies of the private sector and between them and the public sector, the results obtained are very similar to the European average.
Although the score achieved was lower than the European average for other dimensions, several indicators can also be highlighted where the Basque Country obtained similar or indeed better results in comparison with the European Union. These include:
.International scientific co-publications
.PhDs outside the EU
.EU trademarks per billion of GDP
.Innovative SMEs in product or process
.Jobs in intensive knowledge activities
.High and medium technology exports
. High knowledge service exports
On the less positive side, there were also a series of indicators that still lagged far behind the figures seen in the European Union.
Thus, with regard to Finance and Support, the values obtained and expenditure by the public sector on R&D, as a percentage of GDP, and the availability of venture capital were below the European average. When it came to Economic Effect, the turnover from sales of new products for market and for companies was also seen to be under the average. This was likewise the case for Intellectual Assets, EPO patent applications per billion of GDP. Finally, the percentage of innovative SMEs in marketing or organisation was also under the average in the Innovators dimension.
Methodological note: The IUS 2010 Panel of Innovation Indicators is structured in 3 main blocks, which are broken down into 8 dimensions and a total of 25 indicators. There are notable differences with the IUS 2009, both in terms of dimensions and indicators. The 2010 Scoreboard can therefore be compared to previous editions. The structure of the new IUS 2010 is as follows:
“Enablers”. It comprises the Human Resources, Research Systems and Finance & Support dimensions. It includes a total of 8 indicators.
“Firm Activities”. It is broken down into three dimensions: “Firm Investments", “Linkages and Entrepreneurship” and “Intellectual Assets”. It is broken down into a total of 9 indicators:
“Outputs”. It includes the “Innovators” and “Economic Effects”, with a total of 8 indicators.
For each of the blocks and dimensions, as well as for the general scoreboard, a synthetic indicator is calculated whose value is between 0 and 1, using the same methodology for all European countries. Each indicator also used the same year in all countries as the benchmark (2007, 2008 or 2009, depending on the last benchmark year established for each indicator).
It is calculated using the 27 member countries of the European Union, plus Turkey, the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. It seeks to classify those countries by measuring the degree to which their economies have capacity and develop innovation activities.
In the case of the Basque Country, the European methodology has been replicated to position the former in terms of innovation in a European context.
Innovation Union Scoreboard, IUS 2010
http://www.proinno-europe.eu/inno-metrics/page/innovation-union-scoreboard-2010
For further information:
Basque Statistics Office
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Tel:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.eus
Contact: Haritz Olaeta Goiriena
Tel: :+34-945-01 75 02 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01
Further press releases on Innovation Union Scoreboard - IUS