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Switzerland defends top spot in European innovation rankings
Switzerland Global Entreprise
Jul 15, 2026
Brussels - Switzerland has topped Europe’s innovation rankings for the ninth consecutive year, according to the European Commission’s 2026 European Innovation Scoreboard. It has made particular strides in the digital skills of its population. However, it has seen declines in areas such as technology exports and trademark applications.
(CONNECT) Switzerland remains the most innovative country in Europe. In the European Commission’s 2026 European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), it once again ranks first among comparable European countries, scoring 141.3 percent of the EU average (+0.5 points).
This marks the ninth consecutive year that Switzerland has topped the ranking. It is followed by the United Kingdom, Norway and Iceland. Within the European Union, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands lead the rankings.
Switzerland once again performs particularly well in terms of international scientific co-publications, public-private co-publications and the proportion of foreign doctorate students. Switzerland has recently made the most significant progress in digitalization (+11.4 percentage points). Particularly strong gains were seen in the population’s digital skills (+12.4) and access to high-speed internet access (+9.9).
In contrast, declines were reported for exports of medium and high-tech products (-12.5), venture capital expenditures (-7.7) and the number of trademark applications (-5.2). The European Commission also rates direct and indirect government support of business research and development as comparatively weak. In this area, Switzerland ranks 26th out of the 40 countries surveyed.
The EIS compares the innovation performance of EU member states, other European countries and selected international competitors using 32 indicators across various areas. Among the non-European competitors included in the analysis, South Korea ranks first, followed by China, Canada, Australia and the USA. ce/as