Cyprus’ technology performance continues to improve after being promoted to the group of “strong innovators” on the 2022 European Innovation Scoreboard, prepared by the EU Commission.
With a performance of 106.9% of the EU average and ninth overall, Cyprus jumped from the moderate innovators class to the best but one, according to the scoreboard’s latest edition.
The island’s performance is below the “Innovation Leaders” group, which averages 114.5%.
Cyprus was lauded by the committee as a “strong innovator”, with a growth rate of 37.9% compared to 2015, the highest in the EU and 5.9% from 2021.
The report noted that its performance has increased in recent years due to businesses investing in innovative products and procedures.
In 2022, Cyprus’ improved by 24.7% due to significant increases in product innovations made by small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs adopting innovative processes, and investment in environment-related technologies.
Cyprus lost points in 10 sections, which concern corporate investment (-1.6), non-R&D innovation expenditure (-25.7), use of information technologies (-19.6), businesses with ICT training provision (-37.5), innovators (-17.4), innovative SME products (-33.7), employment impacts (-1.8), in exports of medium and high technology goods (-8.6) and resource productivity (-6.2).
The biggest increases were in public and private co-publishing, international scientific co-publishing and innovative SMEs collaborating with other SMEs.
The areas of public-private co-publishing, international scientific co-publishing and environment-related technologies saw the biggest increase in the score compared to 2021.
Although Cyprus performed below the EU average in the environmental sustainability chapter, it had the highest growth rate with 13.6 points.
The EU’s innovation performance has increased by around 10% since 2015, compared to 2021, with performance improving in 19 Member States.
Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea and the USA still outperform the EU, but it has narrowed the performance gap.
Furthermore, the EU has overtaken Japan in innovation performance since 2021.
Marija Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, said: “The European Innovation Scoreboard 2022 demonstrates the importance of creating a pan-European innovation ecosystem.
“The recently adopted new European innovation agenda will put Europe at the forefront of the new wave of high-tech innovations so that innovation reaches all regions of Europe, including rural areas.”
As part of the New European Innovation Agenda, adopted in July, the Commission will focus on bridging the innovation divide across the EU and positioning Europe as a leading player in the global innovation landscape.
