Lithuania rises dramatically in European Innovation Scoreboard

Lithuania has risen 8 places in the European Innovation Scoreboard, published today by the European Commission. By jumping from 24^th up to 16^th position, the Baltic country now lies ahead of the likes of Poland, Latvia, Spain, Slovakia and Hungary.

According to the report, between 2010 and 2016 Lithuania’s biggest improvements were made in business expenditure on non-technology innovation – which increased 157% in addition to expenditure on R&D – and venture capital investment. This form of investment increased by 1,031%. In 2010, it represented just 7.5% of the EU average, but by 2016 this figure already stood at 84.8%. Lithuania also performed well in the number of international scientific co-publications (which grew 145%) and the proportion of the population with a tertiary education (which rose by 31.6%).

Lithuania’s business ecosystem offers an innovation-friendly environment, strong ties between business and universities, and excellent human resources. And one unique initiative which is set to further improve the country’s position in the field of innovation is the Pre-Commercial Procurement measure soon to be introduced by the authorities. This measure is aimed at encouraging public authorities to purchase R&D services for the creation of new products, services, materials, or processes which are not yet on the market, with the aim of addressing social and economic problems of public interest.

Sweden remains Europe’s leading innovator according to the European Innovation Scoreboard, with Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands following. In terms of neighbouring countries, Lithuania is catching up with Estonia, which now ranks just one position ahead in 15^th. Latvia has moved from the 25^th to 24^th position, while Poland’s position has fallen to 25^th from 23^rd.

The European Innovation Scoreboard is an annual publication carried out by the European Commission aimed at measuring the status and progress of the innovation ecosystem of EU Member States with the help of different parameters. It has been published annually since 2001 and is one of the most internationally-recognised publications from the European Commission. The results of the study are widely used within the European Commission for policy-making purposes.