Switzerland ranks at top of the most innovative countries in Europe

As was the case in the previous year, Switzerland again leads the way in terms of innovation across Europe in 2022, having achieved a score of 142.4 percent of the European Union (EU) average. In the most recent European Innovation Scoreboard compiled by the European Commission, Switzerland scored higher than the EU member states across all seven categories examined as part of the study. Additionally, the country also achieved higher ratings than China, Australia, Canada, South Korea and the USA in the international comparison.

Switzerland’s individual country report lists the following aspects as relative strengths: public-private co-publications, international scientific co-publications, lifelong learning and the number of graduates with doctorates and foreign doctoral students. Moreover, Switzerland has recorded a sharp rise in exports of medium and high-tech products since the previous year, as well as in the number of venture capital expenditures and government support for business R&D.

Still, the five-year average shows that EU member states are now catching up, with Switzerland’s lead over other highly innovative countries having become smaller. The leading EU member state, Sweden, achieved a score of 135.7 percent of the average innovative power of the EU. Aside from Finland and Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands can also be considered as other leading innovators. With a score of 117.5 percent, Germany is in tier two when it comes to the strongest innovators, while France recorded a score of 105.4 percent. At 91.6 percent, Italy is ranked in tier three as a moderate innovator.