Drop off in level of innovation in Europe, data shows

New European Commission figures show that less than half of companies in the EU’s 28 member bloc innovated between 2010 and 2012.

This is a lower proportion than seen in previous years, and also conceals differences across Europe. Top of the class is Germany, with 67 per cent of its economy claimed by innovative companies, followed by Luxembourg at 66 per cent and Ireland on 59 per cent. Italy, Sweden, Belgium closely follow. Romania at 21 per cent, Poland, 23 per cent and Bulgaria on 27 per cent, are bottom of the league.

Compared with 2006-2008, the share of innovative companies increased the most in Malta, where it was up by 14 per cent, followed by the Netherlands at 7 per cent, Latvia, 6 per cent and the UK, 5 per cent.

The biggest falls in the proportion of innovative companies for the same period were recorded in Cyprus, which was down 14 per cent, Germany, down 13 per cent, Romania, 13 per cent, the Czech Republic, 12 per cent and Spain, down by 10 per cent

The information was published by Eurostat, the EU statistics arm, on Wednesday (21 January).

Only companies with at least 10 employees are covered. The sectors covered include manufacturing, telecommunications, transportation, financial and insurance activities, wholesale trade, and publishing.

Share of innovative companies in the EU, 2010-2012

Differences in shares of innovative companies in 2010-2012 compared with 2006-2008. Greece not included.

A broad definition

The statistics are not a reflection of how hi-tech companies European companies are. Rather, the data cover innovation that is broadly defined, distinguishing product and process innovation from organisational and marketing innovation.

Organisational innovation, which might see a company structuring its workforce in a new way, was the most reported form of innovation (28% of all enterprises), followed by marketing (24%), product innovations (24%) and process innovations (21%).

Germany again comes top in product and process innovations (55% of its companies), followed by Luxembourg (49%), Belgium (47%), Sweden (45%), Finland (45%) and the Netherlands (45%).

More on the survey methodology here