Europe’s innovation performance rose by 11.6 percentage points since 2019 and by 1.7 pps between 2025 and 2026.
Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands remain innovation leaders; Finland is fourth and Malta is now a strong innovator.
For textile and apparel sourcing teams, indicators on digital infrastructure, research and development and economic impact are policy signals to monitor.
Between 2025 and 2026, EU performance improved by 1.7 percentage points, after a 0.5 percentage-point gain in the previous year, the Scoreboard said.
It also reported progress across all EU Member States, while noting that performance still differs sharply by country.
Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands continue to top the ranking as innovation leaders, while Finland remains in fourth place and Malta has moved into the strong innovator group, the European Commission said in its July 9 release. Outside the EU, South Korea remains the leading global competitor, followed by China, which posted the largest improvement in recent years, according to the Commission.
The commission said the Scoreboard assesses innovation performance annually across EU Member States, neighbouring countries and key global competitors using 32 indicators, including education, digital infrastructure, public and private research and development investment, patents, startups, and economic, environmental and social impact.
This year’s edition also includes Georgia for the first time, reflecting the wider reach of Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme.
The commission said the EIS supports policy monitoring and informs initiatives including the Startup and Scaleup Strategy, EU Inc., the upcoming European Innovation Act and the European Research Area Act.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk
