Belgium is one of the strongest innovators in Europe
Belgium has reached seventh place in the ‘European Innovation Scoreboard 2016’. This means that the country is among the strongest innovators in the European Union. Belgium is actually the out-and-out leader in the areas of innovative networking and collaboration.
Every year, the European Union publishes the ‘European Innovation Scoreboard’ to assess the performance of its member states in the area of innovation. In the 2016 index, Belgium is in seventh place. This means that the country belongs to the select group of strong innovators who perform above the EU average.
Since 2008, Belgium has made significant advances, and this is primarily reflected in innovative collaborations. For example, Belgium scores particularly high in international scientific joint publications and partnerships between innovative SMEs.
Over the last year, Belgium improved its position primarily in the attractive research systems. This is not entirely surprising, given the fact that KU Leuven was recently voted the most innovative university in Europe. Belgium performs less well in the areas of intellectual assets and economic impact. Neighbouring countries Germany and the Netherlands are still doing slightly better than Belgium, who nonetheless is ahead of France and Luxembourg.
The absolute front-runners in the European Union are the Northern member states, with Sweden and Denmark at the very top.