Press Release 28/10/2021

EUROPEAN INNOVATION SCOREBOARD (EIS) 2021

The Basque Country exceeded the EU27 average and established its position on par with the group of European ‘strong innovator’ countries in 2021

Human resources, Attractive research systems, Use of information technologies and Linkages were the dimensions where the Basque Country stood out the most

The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2021 stood at 0.587 in the Basque Country, a rating higher than the EU27 average of 0.526, according to Eustat data.

This figure places the Basque Country at the level of the group of strong innovator countries, obtaining an average of between 100% and 125% of that registered by the EU27, specifically 111.7%. For its part, Spain was amongst the moderate innovator countries, with a value of 0.449, and reached 85.3% of the European average.

The EIS 2021 European Innovation Scoreboard attempts to measure the extent to which countries' economies have the capacity to develop innovation activities. The EU27 countries are grouped into four categories, according to the rating scored and their position in relation to the European average.

The EIS scoreboard is continuously revised. Each year there are variations in terms of both its component indicators and its calculation formula. These changes mean that comparisons cannot be made with EIS scoreboards published in previous years. Each EIS provides data for an eight-year period, 2014-2021 in the case of EIS 2021, using the latest available data in 2021.

In the first category, innovation leader countries, were those countries that scored a rating more than 125% of the European Union average. They were: Sweden (0.731), Finland (0.708), Denmark (0.689) and Belgium (0.671), although the country that was at the forefront of innovation in Europe was Switzerland (0.759).

In the second group, strong innovator countries, were those that achieved a rating of between 100% and 125% of the average. In this case, in descending order, were the Netherlands (0.647), Germany (0.645), Luxembourg (0.638), Austria (0.625), Estonia (0.600), France (0.572) and Ireland (0.567). The Basque Country, with a rating of 0.587, would be placed in this group, between Estonia and France, reaching 111.7% of the EU27 average.

According to the EIS 2021, over the last eight years (2014-2021), the Basque Country went from obtaining a rating of 0.523 to 0.587, although what that score represented in relation to the EU27 average remained practically unchanged, 111.8% in 2014 compared to 111.7% in 2021.

Following these, the third group, moderate innovator countries (between 70% and 100% of the average), included Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Portugal and

Greece, with ratings between 0.505 for Italy and 0.414 for Greece.

Lastly, in the fourth group, emerging innovator countries (under 70% of the average), were, in order, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania, obtaining ratings between 0.366 for the first country in the list and 0.164 points for the last.

It should be pointed out that the EIS 2021 European Innovation Scoreboard is divided into four main types of activity or blocks, which include 12 innovation dimensions and a total of 32 indicators.

In this regard, the Basque Country stood out in three blocks when compared with the European average: ‘FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS’, ‘INVESTMENTS’ and ‘IMPACTS’.

In the first block, ‘FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS’ (which measure the main drivers of innovation performance external to the firm), the Basque Country scored a rating of 0.66 compared to 0.50 in the EU; moreover, the Basque Country attained a better rating than the European average in all three dimensions comprising this block: ‘Human resources’, ‘Attractive research systems’ and ‘Digitalisation’.

In ‘Human resources’, a dimension that measures the availability of a highly qualified and trained workforce as a key element of innovation, in the Basque Country two of the three indicators stood out with respect to the European average: the ‘New doctorate graduates in science and technology aged 25-34’ indicator stood at 1.26 per thousand in the Basque Country, while in the EU27 it was 0.80 per thousand; the ‘Percentage of the Population aged 25-34 with tertiary education’ stood at 50.4%, with the community average standing at 39.4%. In the third indicator of this dimension, ‘Percentage of the population aged 25-64 involved in lifelong learning’, the value obtained in the Basque Country, 10.5%, was slightly lower than that for the EU27, 10.8%.

‘Attractive research systems’, a dimension that measures the international competitiveness of the scientific framework, is also comprised of three indicators. The Basque Country stood out compared to the EU27 in all three. Thus, the number of ‘International scientific co-publications per million inhabitants’ stood at 1,884 in the Basque Country compared to 1,204 in Europe. In the percentage of ‘Scientific publications among the top 10% most cited internationally’ (excellent), the value for the Basque Country was 11.17% and 9.88% for the EU27 and, lastly, ‘Foreign doctorate students as a percentage of all doctorate students’ stood at 31.60% for the Basque Country compared to 18.73% for the EU27.

The third dimension of this first block under analysis is ‘Digitalisation’, which measures the level of digital technology. It includes two indicators and the Basque Country stood out in both. In ‘Broadband penetration’, it scored a rating of 34.0% compared to 23.0% in the EU27; the evolution of this indicator is particularly significant, as the Basque Country started off in 2014 with a penetration rate of 6.4% when it was 10% in the EU27. It also stood out in ‘Individuals with above basic overall digital skills’; the Basque Country, with 33.7%, surpassed the European Union, which obtained a value of 31.0%.

In the second block, ‘INVESTMENTS’ (which measures public and private investment in research and innovation), the Basque Country, with 0.65, once again scored a better rating than the European average, which was 0.56. Three dimensions are examined in this block: ‘Finance and support’, ‘Firm investments’ and ‘Use of information technologies’, and the Basque Country ranked higher than the EU in all three.

‘Finance and support’, a dimension that measures the availability of finance for innovation projects and the support of governments for research and innovation activities, includes three indicators. Two had lower ratings in the Basque Country, ‘R&D expenditure in the public sector (% of GDP)’, 0.69% in the Basque Country compared to 0.73% in the EU, and ‘Venture capital expenditures (% of GDP)’, 0.07% in the Basque Country compared to 0.14% in Europe. However, in the third indicator of this dimension, ‘Direct and indirect government support of business R&D’, the Basque Country (0.30) was ahead of the EU (0.16).

‘Firm investments’. This dimension includes three indicators of both R&D and non-R&D investments that firms make to generate innovations. In the first two, ‘R&D expenditure in the business sector as a percentage of GDP’ and ‘Non-R&D innovation expenditures (% of turnover)’, the European Union was ahead of the Basque Country with 1.46% compared to 1.40% and 0.90% compared to 0.64%, respectively. In the third, ‘Innovation expenditures per person employed’, the Basque Country surpassed Europe with €11,004 compared to €7,484.

‘Use of information technologies’. This dimension captures the use of information technologies through two indicators. In the first, ‘Enterprises providing ICT training’, the Basque Country ranked higher than the EU with 37.9 compared to 20.0, while in the second, ‘Employed ICT specialists’, it was the EU, with a rating of 3.9, that outperformed the Basque Country, which scored 3.4.

The fourth block according to the Scoreboard, ‘IMPACTS’ (which covers the effects of firms’ innovation activities), also obtained a higher score in the Basque Country (0.59) than the European average (0.57). Here, three dimensions are examined: ‘Employment impacts, ‘Sales impacts’ and ‘Environmental sustainability’.

The first, ‘Employment impacts’, records the economic success of innovation on employment and includes two indicators: ‘Employment in knowledge-intensive activities (% of total employment)’, which saw the worst figure, 12.7% in the Basque Country and 13.9% in Europe, and ‘Employment in innovative enterprises’, where the Basque Country, with 61.03%, surpassed Europe, with 56.93%.

The second, ‘Sales impacts’, evaluates the economic success as a result of innovation activities and includes three indicators, two in favour of Europe and one in favour of the Basque Country. ‘Exports of medium and high technology products (% of total exports)’, 55.35 in the Basque Country compared to 57.13 in the EU27; ‘Knowledge-intensive services exports (% of total services exports), 40.18 in the Basque Country compared to 67.27 in the EU27; and ‘Sales of new-to-market and new-to-firm innovations as a percentage of turnover’, where the figure for the Basque Country (14.91%) was higher than that for Europe (11.60%).

The third, ‘Environmental sustainability’, covers improvements to reduce the negative impact on the environment and includes three indicators: ‘Resource productivity’, with a figure of 2.95 in the Basque Country and 2.20 in the EU27, ‘Air emissions by fine particulates’, with a similar figure for the two areas analysed, 0.075, and ‘Environment-related technologies’.

As regards the third block according to the Scoreboard, ‘INNOVATION ACTIVITIES’ (which show innovation efforts at firm level), the Basque Country obtained a rating below the European average, 0.43 compared to 0.48. Even so, of the three dimensions that comprise this block, ‘Innovators’, ‘Linkages’ and ‘Intellectual assets’, in the second of these, the Basque Country ranked higher than the EU27, scoring 0.65 points compared to 0.45.

European Innovation Scoreboard, EIS 2021

https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/statistics/performance-indicators/european-innovation-scoreboard_es

European Innovation Scoreboard, EIS 2021. Basque Country

https://www.eustat.eus/indicadores/ambito_99/temaseleccionado_45/indicadoresEstruc.html

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62