This report presents the latest edition of the Innovation Output Indicator (IOI) for 2025, a composite indicator published by the European Commission since 2013 to offer an output-focused metric of innovation performance at both national and European Union (EU) levels. The IOI measures countries’ capacity to derive economic benefits from innovation by tracking the extent to which innovative ideas reach the market, create knowledge-intensive jobs, and increase country technological capability. It was developed in response to a 2011 European Council request to enhance the monitoring of innovation progress. It also serves as a flagship indicator for assessing the progress of the underlying objectives of the EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation and contributes to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) assessment of innovation performance in the EU, complementing the European Innovation Scoreboard. The report presents the most recent results for the IOI composite indicator and its underlying indicators for 46 countries, including EU Member States (MS) and selected EFTA, OECD and emerging economies. According to the IOI, Sweden, Ireland and Germany are the top-performing EU countries, followed by Denmark and Luxembourg. Sweden outperforms the other EU countries in patent applications, while Ireland and Luxemburg excel in employment within knowledge-intensive industries. At the lower end of the ranking, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Latvia exhibit the lowest performance among EU countries. The EU27 outperforms Canada, Australia, and China in the IOI, but it remains behind the United States, South Korea and Japan. Although the EU27's performance has improved over time, this progress has occurred at a pace similar to or slower than that of some of its key partners. South Korea and Japan are either maintaining or widening their lead over the EU27, while China is narrowing the gap with the EU27. By contrast, the United States show signs of slower growth as the EU27 advances more rapidly. The main IOI analysis is complemented by an exploration of innovation systems across Member States. This includes the collection and analysis of contextual indicators related to countries’ economic structure and their performance in entrepreneurship and other dimensions of innovation. Additionally, a validation analysis of the IOI is conducted to assess its relationship with indicators reflecting inputs to the innovation process, framework conditions for robust innovation systems and its congruence with existing composite indicator frameworks measuring innovation at the country level. Overall, the analysis demonstrates a strong positive relationship between innovation performance, economic structure, and macroeconomic outcomes across EU countries. The results of the IOI validation analysis demonstrate a strong positive correlation between the IOI and a range of indicators capturing innovation inputs and supportive framework conditions, as well as the rankings from other composite indicators monitoring innovation performance. While these overlaps confirm the IOI’s alignment with established innovation metrics, the distinct differences in rankings across frameworks underscore the added value of the IOI within the broader landscape of innovation monitoring tools.

BELLO Michela;  RAVANOS Panagiotis;  TESSARIN Milene; 

2026-06-01

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC145507

978-92-68-36608-0 (online),   

1831-9424 (online),   

EUR 40627,    OP KJ-01-26-051-EN-N (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC145507,   

10.2760/0461350 (online),