The European Commission has published this year’s European Innovation Scoreboard, which examines innovation development in European member states. However, countries that are not part of the EU are also included in the comparison. Switzerland is one of these.
Switzerland attracts researchers and investments
This year Switzerland once again placed above all European states, taking first place in the rankings. According to the report, this good placing is in particular due to the country’s research system, human capital, and investments in companies. The many successful research partnerships between the economy and universities were emphasized. Additionally, Switzerland attracts a lot of foreign PhD students.
Companies invest highly in development
Compared with the European average, Switzerland displays a higher density of companies that invest highly in research and development (top R&D spending enterprises). While there are 16.2 companies per 10 million inhabitants in the EU, this figure is 67 in Switzerland. Switzerland also attracts more foreign direct investments than the European average. Net inflows from foreign direct investments make up 3.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Switzerland. This percentage is 2.6 on average in the EU.
Sweden took second place in the rankings again this year, followed by Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
