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| Europeâs record on innovation â50 years behind USâ | ||
| 2006-01-13 | ||
The Innovation Scoreboard compares the performance of the 25 EU countries with the US, Japan and several other nations, and ranks them according to factors such as the number of science and engineering graduates, patents, research and development spending and exports of high-tech products. The survey finds that only four EU countries â Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany â can compete with the US and Japan in terms of their innovative abilities. âThe innovation gap between the EU25 and Japan is increasing and the one between EU and US is close to stable,â the report notes. It adds that it would take more than 50 years to close the gap between the average EU performance and the current US level. Commission officials said the innovation ranking was important because it looked beyond R&D spending to analyse the ability to transform basic research into marketable products â and therefore into jobs and economic growth. GÃŒnter Verheugen, the EU industry commissioner, said: âThe Innovation Scoreboard clearly shows that we have to do more for innovation. There is clear evidence that more innovative sectors tend to have higher productivity growth rates.â The EUâs âdisappointingâ performance masks striking differences between the 25 member states: the Commission ranks Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany as âleading countriesâ and states including the UK, France and Italy as âaverage performersâ. Portugal, the Czech Republic, Greece and others are âcatching upâ, while states Spain and Poland are âlosing groundâ. Switzerland, which is not an EU member, comes second overall â ahead of both Japan and the US. The UK and Ireland â which have recently boasted high economic growth rates, low unemployment and which regularly score highly in surveys examining countriesâ economic competitiveness â have both performed worse than in previous scoreboards. Germany, despite its status as an âinnovation leaderâ, and a strong record for lifelong learning receives poor marks for its dearth of science and engineering students and for its comparatively poor levels of youth education. The EUâs largest economy is also chided for its populationâs reluctance to embrace innovative products and services.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Yo Mediocrestan25: If EU want to ram your own ship into the Socialist iceberg, fine. Good luck. Just kwitcherbitchen about the USA. (though we might say "Thank EU" for such a clear example of failure, many Americans haven't awoken to the fact that "calitalism plus entitlements = socialismo") |
| Posted by: Hyper 2006-01-13 11:50 |
| #3 I hope for Brett's opinion to win out in the EU, but I think Zang's is the one that will win out over their. Remember, "If an impotent, bloated bureaucracy can't solve it, pass more bloated legislation!" |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2006-01-13 11:09 |
| #2 ZF, to me they are finally admitting that their way isn't perfect. It MIGHT be an opening to them realizing how bad their situation is. We can opnly hope this is the first incident showing they have received a good hit from the cluebat. |
| Posted by: Brett 2006-01-13 11:07 |
| #1 I'm not sure what the point of this survey is, except to come up with new ways for the EU bureaucracy to throw its weight around to "fix" these things. Most of the things they cited are not things the government can fix. Far better to deal with the barriers to business formation and tax structures. But that's not what these bureaucrats are talking about. And that is why this survey is a complete farce. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-01-13 02:59 |