· Sustainloop editorial team · regional-ecosystems · 3 min read
Regional Innovation Performance
Summary of the Regional Innovation Scoreboard and comparative analysis across TRINEFLEX pilots
The Regional Innovation Scoreboard is the regional extension of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) by the European Commission, that aims at assessing the innovation performance of 239 regions in Europe. The overall regional innovation performance is measured using a composite index, called the Regional Innovation Index (RII), that provides a comparative assessment of the performance of innovation systems across regions in EU Member States. The regions according to their performance on the RII relative to that of the EU, are then grouped into four main innovation performance groups:
- Innovation Leaders: the regions performing more than 125% above the EU average.
- Strong Innovators: the regions performing between 100% and 125% of the EU average.
- Moderate Innovators: the regions performing between 70% and 100% of the EU average.
- Emerging Innovators: the regions performing below 70% of the EU average.
In the table below we look at the innovation performance of the regions where the 5 demo cases in TRINEFLEX are established.
| TRINEFLEX Demo Cases | Country innovation performance (EIS framework) | Country ranking (out of 27 EU member states) | Regional Innovation Group & Index (RIS framework) | Region ranking (out of 239 regions) | Change (compared to 2022) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Basque Country (ES21), Spain Region of Murcia (ES62), Spain | Moderate Innovator 89.2% of the EU average | 16th | Strong Innovator 109.8 Moderate Innovator - 76.7 | 72nd 162nd | +14.1 +7.1 |
 Veneto (ITH3), Italy | Moderate Innovator 90.3% of the EU average | 15th | Moderate Innovator + 97.9 | 111th | +14.7 |
 Central Greece (EL64), Greece Attica (EL30), Greece | Moderate Innovator 79.5% of the EU average | 20th | Emerging Innovator + 69.3 Moderate Innovator 90.0 | 179th 132nd | +22.7 +21.9 |
It is evident that there is significant variance in the level of innovation performance between the 5 regions. Basque Country (ES21) is a strong innovator and the best performing region of Spain, that achieved a substantial increase of its RII over the previous year. On the other hand, the region of Murcia (ES62) belongs to the “Moderate-” group and managed to increase its innovation performance at half level and below the EU average change of +8.5. In Italy, Veneto (ITH3) is among the “Moderate+” innovators with an annual change just below the country’s average (+15.6). Attica (EL3) is the most innovative Greek region but overall, only a moderate innovator compared to the average performance of EU regions. Central Greece (EL64) is the least performing among the regions of the TRINEFLEX demo sites but still it achieved a generous increase over last year and slightly above the country’s average of +22.2, demonstrating a trend of innovation growth in the area. The diverse levels of regional innovation readiness present an intriguing research opportunity to evaluate the capacity of local stakeholders in fostering the twin transition of resource and energy intensive industries and harnessing synergies across sustainability initiatives.
