Xinhua
Brussels, Feb 15 (Xinhua) Sweden is the most innovative country in the European Union (EU), according to a study. Sweden’s innovation performance was way above the US, Canada and Japan, according to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2007, a study commissioned by the European Commission, whose results were released Thursday.

The overall innovation performance is calculated on the basis of 25 indicators covering five dimensions of innovation.

Finland, Denmark, Germany and Britain are also ahead of the US in innovation. These EU member states, together with the US, Switzerland, Israel and Japan, are the world’s innovation leaders, with scores well above the EU average.

Luxembourg, Iceland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, France, Belgium are the innovation followers, with scores below those of the innovation leaders but equal to or above the EU average.

Australia, Estonia, Slovenia, Norway, the Czech Republic, Italy, Cyprus and Spain are the moderate innovators with scores below that of the EU average.

Malta, Lithuania, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria, Portugal, Latvia and Romania are further behind.

Turkey is the least innovative country among those surveyed.

The scoreboard was prepared by the Maastricht Economic and Social Research and Training Center on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) assisted by the joint research center of the European Commission.
Xinhua