Portugal is one of the European Union’s “strong innovators”

Portugal has made the greatest progress in terms of innovation in recent years and has joined the group of member states of the European Union (EU) considered to be "strong innovators”, reveals the European Innovation Panel released by the European Commission. 

The annual report shows that, between 2012 and 2019, Portugal was one of the five EU countries that made the most progress in terms of innovation, highlighting the 'leap' made in the last two years, from 84 points to 105 points, which puts the country for the first time in the group of "strong innovators”, after being considered a "moderate innovator” over the last few years.

For the second consecutive year, Portugal is even the leader in one of the areas contemplated for the elaboration of the ranking, "innovation in small and medium-sized companies”, and is now part of the group of seven countries considered "strong innovators”, the second-highest in the hierarchy, after the "innovation leaders”, which are Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Holland, and Luxembourg.

The report points out that, on average, the performance in terms of innovation in the European Union has increased 8.9% since 2012 - with the largest increases being led by Lithuania, Malta, Latvia, Portugal and Greece -, and, for the second consecutive year, supersedes that of the United States, remaining also ahead of powers like Russia and China. 

"The European Union is leading the way out of the COVID-19 crisis, stepping up its support for research efforts and bringing together various players from innovation ecosystems, both in the public and private sectors, who can turn new ideas into reality and improve citizens' lives. The post-COVID EU will be stronger and more united than ever, taking advantage of its creativity and performance in terms of innovation, as this year's scoreboard points out”, commented Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, who succeeded Carlos Moedas as responsible in the community executive for the Innovation portfolio.