The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024 provides a comparative analysis of the research and innovation performance of all European and selected non-European countries. Released on 8 July 2024, the EIS helps countries to compare the overall performance, and the particular strengths and weaknesses of their innovation systems against other countries and therefore to identify areas for improvement, too.
The EIS 2024 classifies countries into four innovation groups—Innovation Leaders, Strong Innovators, Moderate Innovators, and Emerging Innovators—based on their performance relative to the EU average. In order to provide a more nuanced view of innovation across Europe, the EIS emphasises also the diverse paths of innovation, with northern countries frequently leading the charge. The core of the report is in the EIS country profiles, which explain the performance factors of each country and the new EIS interactive tool helps you to make your own further analyses.
Closer look at Finland’s innovation performance: strengths in digitalisation, challenges in green transition
The EIS 2024 country analyses show that Finland continues to demonstrate strength in innovation and digitalisation, though it faces challenges in maintaining SME-driven innovation and improving its green transition.
Overall, Finland is classified in the EIS 2024 as an Innovation Leader, performing at 127.8% of the EU average in 2024, and it excels especially in public-private co-publications, international scientific collaborations, and innovative SMEs collaborating with others. Strong broadband penetration, venture capital expenditures, and sales of new innovations have contributed to Finland’s rising innovation performance.
A deeper analysis uncovers some areas of concern, too. Finland’s resource productivity is notably low, at just 14% of the EU average, and government support for business R&D stands at 37%. These figures highlight significant room for improvement in areas that could impact Finland’s long-term innovation capacity, despite its overall high ranking.
The country ranks fourth overall, with a slight decline in its innovation index since 2023, but its performance has increased by 11.8 points since 2017, indicating steady progress.
Innovation Activities
Finland performs well above the EU average in terms of innovators and linkages, reflecting its strong innovation ecosystem. Nevertheless, recent economic conditions and energy price increases have caused a downturn in key innovation indicators, such as SME collaboration and design applications.
Investments
The country’s R&D investment remains robust, particularly in the public sector and venture capital markets. However, state support for business R&D has decreased, which may impede the long-term growth of innovation in smaller enterprises. Finland also leads in digitalization, ICT use, and training, leveraging its strong tech sector.
Impacts
Finland has seen a significant increase in employment in innovative enterprises and sales of new innovations, driven by strong business processes and digital capabilities. However, it lags in high-tech exports, partly due to limited SME participation in global value chains.
Sustainability
While Finland’s innovation capacity is strong, it has notable weaknesses in environmental sustainability and resource productivity. Government policies aim to address these shortcomings, but current performance remains low in terms of green technologies and circular economy practices.
Despite being among the top performers, Finland’s example demonstrates the importance of looking beyond headline rankings to identify areas of improvement. Deeper insights from the European Innovation Scoreboard reveal specific challenges that even leaders must tackle to sustain and enhance their innovation performance.
See the Finland’s Country Profile here.
The next European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) will be published in 2025 alongside with an updated Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS). 4FRONT is part of the group of companies that are delivering and developing EIS and RIS for the European Commission.
Picture: European Innovation Scoreboard 2024 Country Profile Finland.
