“Now more than ever, our freedom, security and autonomy will depend on our ability to innovate, remain competitive and grow” (A Competitiveness Compass for the EU, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, 29/01/2025)

Faced with a world undergoing rapid technological change, threatened by geopolitical tensions and marked by an accelerating environmental and demographic transition, the European Union must treat innovation as a strategic imperative. The ability to generate, adopt and scale up new ideas will be key to safeguarding Europe’s values, steering structural change and carving out the new opportunities needed in today’s global landscape.

To monitor innovation performance on an annual basis and support evidence-based policymaking across the European Union (EU), in neighbouring countries, and in relation to the EU’s global partners and competitors, the European Commission has adopted the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS).

This tool makes it possible to understand how national innovation systems are evolving and where efforts need to be concentrated to boost innovation performance, taking into account each country’s socio-economic context, which is captured through a complementary set of structural indicators that help interpret the results. These indicators range from digitalisation to human resources, from the attractiveness of the research system to intellectual property rights.

Based on these indicators, the EIS 2025 divides EU countries into four performance groups relative to the European average: Innovation Leaders (performance above 125%), which include Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland; Strong Innovators (between 100% and 125%), a group made up of Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, France and Estonia; Moderate Innovators (between 70% and 100%), a category that includes Malta, Slovenia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Lithuania, Czechia, Greece and Croatia; and, finally, Emerging Innovators (below 70%), a group comprising Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania.

The EU picture: long-term progress and sudden slowdowns

The report shows that, overall, EU countries have recorded an increase in their innovation performance since 2018, the baseline year, ranging from Luxembourg, with +0.9 percentage points, to Estonia, with +30.0 percentage points.

Among the most notable shifts, Sweden has reclaimed its position as the most innovative Member State, ahead of Denmark, which had held that position from 2020 to 2024, while Croatia has improved its innovation performance, moving up from the group of emerging innovators to that of moderate innovators.

Italy remains a “Moderate Innovator,” but grows above average

Against this backdrop, Italy continues to fall within the “Moderate Innovator” category, though on an upward trend: it posted a 15.4% increase compared to 2018 (outpacing the EU average of +12.6%) and a rise of 3.4% over the past year (2024-2025).

Italy ranks 14th among EU Member States and 18th when neighbouring countries are included in the overall count.

Bright spots and shadows in the Italian system: strengths and long-standing bottlenecks

A detailed look at the country profiles reveals an Italy moving at two speeds, marked by pockets of excellence alongside structural delays.

Strengths: The real engine of Italian innovation is the SME sector. Italy stands out for the share of small and medium-sized enterprises introducing product and process innovations (ranking 4th and 3rd respectively in the EU) and for firms’ propensity to collaborate with other actors. Italy holds an EU-wide first place for resource productivity (sustainability and the circular economy) and for design applications. Results are also strong when it comes to the uptake of cloud computing and public-private scientific co-publications.

Long-standing weaknesses: On the other side of the ledger, the weak point of our innovation performance remains human capital. The indicator on the share of the population with tertiary education (a university degree) sees Italy slip to 26th place out of 27 Member States, trailing the rest of the Union alongside limited ultra-fast broadband coverage and a low number of ICT specialists employed. The national system is also held back by low private-sector R&D spending and limited labour mobility among skilled human resources in science and technology.

The 2025 report paints the picture of a country that, while not yet among the continent’s innovation front-runners, has a responsive and sustainable industrial base capable of making the most of its efforts despite structural shortcomings in education and systemic investment.

All EIS results are based on open data and can be explored through the dedicated interactive tool, which allows users to compare countries, analyse trends and reuse the data for research or policy analysis purposes.