Innovation at the Regional Level: Europe’s Rising Stars and Hidden Gaps under the Regional Innovation Scoreboard 

The European Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2025 shows a familiar truth: Europe’s innovation landscape is not evenly distributed. We all know that. However, the European Innovation Scoreboard 2025 paints a clear picture: Europe is improving in innovation overall, but some regions are accelerating, translating industrial transformation, smart specialisation, and entrepreneurial culture into real progress. Others remain stuck, struggling with structural weaknesses that prevent them from catching up. 

Today, we analyse how and why regions across Europe are breaking away from the pack and why, in the meantime, some others are lagging behind or are not succeeding. It reminds us that innovation is local: it flourishes where universities, businesses, and public authorities align around long-term priorities. Yet the data also highlights where stagnation risks leaving parts of Europe behind. 

Regions Moving Forward 

A number of regions across Europe are showing clear upward momentum. They share common traits: 

• Focused strategies: Regions that put their smart specialisation strategies into practice — aligning investment, universities, and business around a few priority sectors — are moving fastest. This is visible in parts of Spain (Valencia, Basque Country, Catalonia), Czechia (South Moravia), and Slovenia (Ljubljana region). 

• Vibrant start-up ecosystems: Dynamic hubs such as Berlin, Skåne, Lisbon, Vilnius are benefitting from a strong entrepreneurial culture, international networks, and access to funding. Their ecosystems act as magnets for talent and investment, which drives their innovation scores upward. 

• Industrial transformation: Traditional manufacturing regions that embraced the green and digital transitions are seeing their indicators improve. Examples include regions in Spain such as Navarre and València, France with Occitanie, and West Germany where industries like automotive, aerospace, and ceramics are moving toward cleaner, smarter production. 

• Collaboration and openness: Regions that connect — across borders, across sectors, and between science and industry — are outperforming those that remain siloed. Skåne’s cross-border cooperation with Denmark or South Holland’s strong science-business links highlight how cooperation accelerates innovation. 

Regions Falling Behind 

On the other side of the scoreboard, several regions are stagnating or losing ground. Their difficulties often stem from similar challenges: 

• Over-concentration in capitals: Countries such as Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria rely heavily on their capital regions, leaving the rest of the country lagging far behind. This creates “islands of innovation” but no balanced national system. 

• Weak private R&D: In Southern Spain, Eastern Hungary, Greece, and Bulgaria, businesses invest little in research and innovation. Reliance on public and EU funds without private co-investment makes progress fragile. 

• Industrial inertia: Regions with strong industrial legacies but weak adaptation, such as Hauts-de-France or Eastern Germany, show how difficult it is to convert traditional economic strength into innovation-driven growth. 

• Fragmented ecosystems and brain drain: In lagging regions, universities, businesses, and policymakers often fail to connect. Combined with skilled workers leaving for innovation hubs, this leaves ecosystems underdeveloped despite funding opportunities. 

Northern Leaders: Consolidating and Expanding 

In Europe’s established innovation powerhouses, regional contrasts are also telling: 

• France: Île-de-France (Paris) remains the country’s flagship, but regions like Occitanie (aerospace, energy) and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (advanced manufacturing) are showing the strongest improvements. By contrast, Hauts-de-France continues to lag, highlighting the challenge of balancing industrial tradition with innovation-driven growth. 

• Germany: Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg remain among Europe’s strongest regions, thanks to automotive, engineering, and green technologies. But the real story is Berlin, which is now one of Europe’s fastest improvers. Its vibrant start-up ecosystem, particularly in digital and creative industries, is pulling the region upward. Eastern regions, however, still trail behind. 

• Netherlands: North Holland (Amsterdam) continues to grow rapidly in ICT, fintech, and digital services, while South Holland (Rotterdam–The Hague) benefits from strong university-industry collaboration in biotech and energy. Together, they reinforce the Netherlands as one of Europe’s most balanced innovation leaders. 

• Sweden: Stockholm and Västra Götaland remain dominant, but the interesting story is Skåne, which has shown notable improvement. Anchored in life sciences and strengthened by cross-border collaboration with Denmark, Skåne is turning into a regional powerhouse in its own right. 

Why Regional Shifts Matter 

These regional success stories — from Valencia to Brno, from Skåne to Berlin — highlight the importance of local ecosystems. They show that progress is not limited by geography or size. And sometimes, regional and local ecosystems can move forward more than their own capital. With the right policy frameworks, even regions traditionally outside the innovation spotlight can move forward quickly. 

Why These Contrasts Matter 

The lesson from the Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2025 is that innovation does not automatically spread evenly. Where policies are focused, ecosystems are connected, and industries are adapting, regions thrive. Where systems are fragmented, underfunded, or locked into the past, regions fall behind. 

But as mentioned before, the scoreboard also reveals the opposite: regions in Eastern Hungary, Northern France, or parts of Eastern Germany that stagnate despite national improvements. These gaps risk creating a two-speed Europe, not just between countries but within them. 

This divide risks creating a two-speed Europe not only between North and South or East and West, but within countries themselves. Strong hubs are getting stronger, while weaker regions stagnate. If left unaddressed, this imbalance could undermine both cohesion and competitiveness. 

Policy Takeaways: Building a Cohesive Innovation Europe 

To bridge these gaps, European and national policymakers should: 

• Invest in ecosystems, not just infrastructure: Support clusters, research-business cooperation, and entrepreneurial communities where potential exists. 

• Spread success through cooperation: Encourage partnerships between leading hubs and weaker regions to share knowledge, talent, and investment. Encourage the SMEs to cooperate with Research and tech centres and to explore innovations outside the regional borders. 

• Target industrial transition: Help traditional regions adapt to green and digital shifts through innovation-driven renewal. The SME’s that adapt better to the digital transition will better survive to market changes. 

• Use cohesion funds strategically: Ensure that EU funds go beyond infrastructure, directly strengthening innovation capacity. 

• To mobilise private R&D investments: Create incentives for companies to co-invest in innovation, ensuring sustainability beyond EU funds. This is one of the main weaknesses of Europe compared with other international ecosystems from US, Japan, China or even our neigbours from UK or Switzerland have more private investments than us in R&D. Specially thanks to venture capital and equity. This is a European weakness but if regions achieve to mobilise private investments from inverstors groups or SMEs, they can improve the capacity of their ecosystem and start-ups. 

• Promote place-based entrepreneurship: Tailor support for start-ups and scale-ups to regional contexts, avoiding one-size-fits-all solutions. It all should start in the university programmes but also attracting investment in ideas, specially those ones based in digital and deep-tech. The regions that improve this start-up ecosystem with investments and tailored support will build the base for boosting the innovation seed in the long term. 

• Retain and attract talent: Make regions attractive places for researchers, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers by providing opportunities outside traditional capitals. The EC is working a lot to attract worldwide talent to the EU but it is the task of the regions to attract them to regional and local hubs different than the great capitals and EU hubs. 

Conclusion: A Europe of Regions, Not Just Nations 

The European Innovation Scoreboard 2025 reminds us that Europe’s innovation future will be written as much in Valencia, Brno, Ljubljana, Berlin, and Skåne as in Paris, Berlin, or Stockholm. Regional leaders are showing the way forward, while lagging regions are warning us of the risks of neglect. 

If Europe wants to compete globally, it cannot afford innovation to be concentrated in a handful of hubs. It must foster a truly European network of regional innovation ecosystems — where progress in Valencia or Brno contributes as much to Europe’s future as success in Stockholm or Amsterdam.