(30 October 2014) – The innovative strength of the German economy has slipped in 2014, according to a study published yesterday by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), meanwhile confirming that Switzerland remains the most innovative economy in the world.
With an indicator value of 56 points, Germany is far behind global leaders Switzerland (76 points) and Singapore (65 points). But the gap between Germany and the countries placed just above it in the ranking is relatively small – Sweden received 56 points, Belgium 58 and Finland 60.
The innovation study has been published annually by the Deutsche Telekom Foundation and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) since 2005. It is meant to shed light on innovative ability in the economy, science, education, the state and society.
The focus of this year’s edition was comparing the three biggest economic areas North America, Asia and Europe. Since 2000, Europe has been able to slowly but steadily improve its innovative performance, even surpassing North America in 2010. 12 of the 20 strongest innovator countries are located in Europe.
With regard to science, Europe has been ahead of North America since 2005. But thanks to international beacons like Harvard, Stanford and MIT, the United States is still the undisputed leader in research excellence. Meanwhile Asian countries are quickly catching up with European and North American economies on innovation. (With EurActiv)