The EU’s new major report is here—and the results stand out immediately. While several countries are losing ground, one country is solidifying a position that is drawing attention across Europe. The report now reveals the areas behind this success—and the weaknesses that still remain. See the full list at the bottom of the article.
Sweden retains its top spot in the EU as the European Commission presents European Innovation Scoreboard 2026. The country is once again ranked as the EU’s strongest innovator, performing at 139 percent of the EU average—ahead of Denmark and the Netherlands.
The report shows that Sweden has improved its innovation index by 2.1 percentage points compared to 2025 and by 7.6 percentage points since 2019. At the same time, Sweden is ranked first in the EU in areas such as venture capital investments, corporate research investments, patent applications, and collaboration among innovative small businesses.
According to the government's press release Sweden's main strengths are its access to a highly educated workforce, private-sector investment in innovation, and exports of high-tech and knowledge-intensive goods and services.
Despite Restrictions – Sweden Outperforms the Rest of the EU
At the same time, the European Commission’s country report highlights several challenges. Sweden scores relatively poorly in terms of how often highly skilled individuals change jobs, resource productivity, and government support for corporate research and development.
At the European level, Switzerland continues to top the broader comparison, which also includes countries outside the EU. Within the EU itself, however, Sweden remains the undisputed leader, while Denmark and the Netherlands retain their positions behind Sweden.
Here is the complete ranking of the EU's 27 member states in the 2026 European Innovation Scoreboard:
- Sweden
- Denmark
- The Netherlands
- Finland
- Belgium
- Ireland
- Luxembourg
- Austria
- Germany
- France
- Estonia
- Malta
- Italy
- Spain
- Portugal
- Cyprus
- Slovenia
- Lithuania
- Czech Republic
- Greece
- Hungary
- Croatia
- Poland
- Slovakia
- Latvia
- Bulgaria
- Romania
It would be nice if our people could benefit from some of this as well, and if not all the profits were sent to Ukraine.