Press Release 30/10/2025

EUROPEAN INNOVATION SCOREBOARD (EIS) 2025

The Basque Country consolidated its position among strong innovator countries according to the Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2025

The highest scores compared to the EU were obtained in the dimensions of highly qualified "human resources", "linkages" between innovative companies and with the public sector and "resource and labour productivity"

The Basque Country scored 0.605 on the European Innovation Scoreboard EIS 2025, above the 0.536 obtained by the EU-27, according to Eustat data.

The score obtained by the Basque Country represents 112.8% of the EU average, placing it at the level of the group of ‘strong innovator’ countries, which are those that are between 100% and 125% of the average recorded by the EU-27. For its part, Spain was among the ‘moderate innovator’ countries, with a score of 0.497 (equivalent to 92.7% of the European average).

The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2025 aims to measure the extent to which countries' economies have the capacity to develop innovation activities. It is divided into four main blocks of activity, which encompass 12 innovation dimensions for a total of 32 indicators. Based on the scores obtained and their ranking in relation to the European average, the EU-27 countries are placed in one of four categories: innovation leaders, strong innovators, moderate innovators, and emerging innovators.

The EIS undergoes continuous revision, and 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 the EISs published in previous years. Each EIS provides data for an eight-year period, 2018-2025 in the case of EIS 2025, using the latest available data.

The first category, innovation leaders, contains countries with a score over 125% of the European Union average. There are four such countries: Sweden (0.740), Denmark (0.724), the Netherlands (0.692) and Finland (0.672), although the country at the forefront of innovation in Europe was Switzerland (0.749).

In the second category, strong innovators, are those that achieved a score of between 100% and 125% of the average. There are seven of these countries: Ireland (0.660), Belgium (0.657), Luxembourg (0.614), Austria (0.611), Germany (0.596), France (0.582) and Estonia (0.562). The Basque Country, with a score of 0.605, would be placed between Austria and Germany in this group, standing at 112.8% of the EU-27 average.

The third category, moderate innovators, comprises countries that achieved between 70% and 100% of the average. There are ten of these countries, listed in descending order below: Malta, Slovenia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Lithuania, Czechia, Greece and Croatia, with ratings ranging from 0.509 for Malta to 0.384 for Croatia.

Lastly, the fourth category, emerging innovators, comprises six countries whose scores are less than 70% of the average. Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania, with scores ranging from 0.373 (Hungary) to 0.202 (Romania).

The Basque Country scored above the European average in three of the four main blocks in the EIS, ‘FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS’, ‘INVESTMENTS’ and ‘IMPACTS’.

The first block, ‘FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS’, reflects the main factors external to firms that have an impact on innovation results. In this block, the Basque Country obtained a score of 0.694 compared to 0.50 in the EU, while also achieving a better score than the European average in the block's three dimensions: ‘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 for innovation, the Basque Country achieved a score of 0.78, exceeded only by Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark, while the European average was 0.49. All three indicators stood out in this dimension with respect to the European average: the ‘New doctorate graduates in science and technology aged 25-34 indicator stood at 1.31 per thousand in the Basque Country, while in the EU-27 it was 0.80 per thousand; and the ‘Percentage of the population aged 25-34 with tertiary education’ stood at 62.4%, compared to the European average of 44.1%. 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, 14.1%, was also higher than that for the EU27, 13.5%.

In the ‘Attractive research systems’ dimension, which evaluates the international competitiveness of the scientific base, the Basque Country scored higher than the EU-27 (0.56 compared to 0.43). It includes three indicators and, once again, the Basque Country stood out in all three. Thus, the number of ‘International scientific co-publications per million inhabitants’ stood at 2,003 in the Basque Country compared to 1,342 in Europe. In the percentage of ‘Scientific publications among the top-10% most cited’ (classified as excellent), the Basque Country scored 9.73% compare to 9.61% for the EU-27. Finally, in ‘Foreign doctorate students as a percentage of all doctorate students in the country’, the Basque Country obtained 31.6% compared to 22.0% in the EU-27.

The third and final dimension of this first block is ‘Digitalisation’, which measures the level of digital technology, standing at 0.77 in the Basque Country and 0.62 in the EU-27. It includes two indicators and the Basque Country stood out in both. In ‘High-speed internet access’, it achieved a score of 87.7%, while the EU-27 average is 78.8%; and in ‘Individuals who have above basic overall digital skills’, the Basque Country’s score of 36.8% exceeded the EU average of 27.3%.

The second block, ‘INVESTMENTS’, examines public and private investment in research and innovation. The Basque Country’s score of 0.62 was once again higher than the European average (0.55). It examines a further three dimensions, ‘Finance and support’, ‘Firm investments’ and ‘Use of information technologies’, and the Basque Country once again ranked higher than the EU in all three.

The ‘Finance and support’ dimension measures the availability of finance for innovation projects and the support of governments for research and innovation activities. The Basque Country achieved a score of 0.54, compared to 0.51 in the EU-27. It includes three indicators. In one of them, ‘Direct government funding and government tax support for business R&D’, the Basque Country’s score of 0.33 was higher than the EU average of 0.18. However, in the other two indicators, ‘R&D expenditure in the public sector (percentage of GDP)’ and ‘Venture capital expenditures (percentage of GDP)’, it was the EU that surpassed the Basque Country, with 0.72% compared to 0.49% and 0.15% compared to 0.10%, respectively.

‘Firm investments’. The Basque Country scored 0.70 points in this dimension, versus 0.55 for the EU, placing it in a leading position compared to the EU-27, behind only Sweden, Germany, Belgium and Malta. It includes three investment indicators and the Basque Country again topped the EU-27 average in all three. In ‘R&D expenditure in the business sector as a percentage of GDP’, with 1.66% compared to 1.49%, in ‘Non-R&D innovation expenditures (% of turnover)’, with 0.61% versus 0.57%, and in ‘Innovation expenditures per employee in innovative enterprises’, €14,787 compared to €7,829, respectively.

In the 'Investment in information technologies’ dimension, the Basque Country scored 0.62, in line with the EU-27 average. This dimension captures the use of information technologies through two indicators. In the first, ‘Cloud Computing’, the Basque Country ranked higher than the EU with 48.8% compared to 45.3%, while in the second, ‘Employed ICT specialists’, it was the EU, with a rating of 5.0, that outperformed the Basque Country, which scored 4.6.

As regards the third block in the EIS, ‘INNOVATION ACTIVITIES’, which show innovation efforts at firm level, the Basque Country obtained a rating below the European average, 0.45 compared to 0.47.

Nevertheless, one dimension can be highlighted in this section where the Basque Country outstripped the European Union average. In effect, in ‘Linkages’, a dimension that measures the collaborative efforts between innovative enterprises and also with the public sector, the Basque Country achieved a better score (0.64) than the EU-27 average (0.38) thanks to two indicators, ‘Innovative SMEs collaborating with others’ and ‘Public-private co-publications per million inhabitants’, where the Basque Country achieved scores of 19.87 and 377.1 compared to 12.42 and 139.8 for the EU-27.

Lastly, in the fourth block, 'IMPACTS', covering the effects of innovative business activities, the Basque Country scored 0.644, compared to 0.635, placing it slightly higher than the European average.

In terms of dimensions, in 'Sales and employment impacts', reflecting the economic success of innovation in employment and sales, it stood just above the EU (0.59 versus 0.55). In 'Trade impacts', assessing economic success in trade due to innovation activities, our region (0.60) scored lower than the EU (0.81) and lastly, in the 'Resource and labour productivity’ dimension, the Basque Country registered 0.75 points, outstripping the EU-27 at 0.52.

European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024

European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024.Basque Country

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