FOREWORD  6

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  7

1.1 The EIS is a tool supporting EU level policy development  8

1.2 Europe's innovation performance remains strong with sustained growth  8

1.3 Performance within the EU  10

1.4 Neighbouring countries and global competitors  10

2. WHY MEASURING INNOVATION PERFORMANCE MATTERS  12

2.1 Innovation in a time of geopolitical turbulence  13

2.2 Measuring performance of national innovation systems  14

2.2.1 The European Innovation Scoreboard framework  14

2.2.2 Interpreting scores, rankings and performance groups  16

3. INNOVATION PERFORMANCE AND TRENDS IN THE EU  20

3.1 Innovation performance of the EU in 2026  21

3.2 Innovation performance trends  22

3.2.1 Innovation Leaders  26

3.2.2 Strong Innovators  27

3.2.3 Moderate Innovators  29

3.2.4 Emerging Innovators  31

3.2.5 Is there convergence in innovation performance across the EU?  33

3.3 Performance by category and dimension  35

3.3.1 Performance on framework conditions  37

3.3.2 Performance on investments  43

3.3.3 Performance on innovation activities  49

3.3.4 Performance on impacts  55

4. THE EU'S NEIGHBOURS' PERFORMANCE  61

4.1 The wider European comparison picture  62

4.2 Performance of neighbouring countries in 2026  68

5. HOW DOES EUROPE COMPARE GLOBALLY?  71

5.1 The EU's overall performance  72

5.2 The EU's performance versus global competitors  75

5.3 How the EU performs per dimension against global competitors  77

6. COMPARING NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM AND STARTUP AND SCALEUP PERFORMANCE  86

7. COUNTRY PAGES  90

8. EIS METHODOLOGY  142

8.1 Data sources and availability for EIS 2026  143

8.2 Methodology for calculating the summary innovation index  144

8.3 The impact of structural differences on innovation performance  146