Denmark – one of the World's Leading Innovative Nations

Denmark is one of the world's leading nations in the area of innovation.

This is one of the conclusions in a new EU analysis of the innovation performance of EU member states in 2006, known as the European Innovation Scoreboard.

– It is encouraging to see that Denmark performs well in nearly all areas, both in relation to the EU average and the other countries included in the analysis, says Helge Sander, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation.

– And, not least, it is gratifying to see that Denmark has improved its overall ranking during the last few years. The Government's focus on innovation and dissemination of knowledge has come to fruition and has contributed to this leading position, says Helge Sander.

The innovation performance is measured on the basis of factors such as the country's investments in the IT and telecommunications sector, education level, investments in research and development, and the number of new patents.

The report shows that Denmark is at the very top in the area of innovation, together with Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Japan and Germany.

If we look at the five main categories of indicators and the associated subgroups, it appears that Denmark is among the "top three" with regard to eight of the indicators, including higher education, broadband access, lifelong learning, access to early-stage venture capital, SMEs using organisational innovation, employment in high-tech services, and industrial design.

The analysis shows that Denmark has improved its ranking in most areas since 1998. Also in relation to the high level seen in recent years, it can be noted that Denmark continues to improve its overall ranking.

– I hope that we can maintain and preferably strengthen this positive development in the years to come. The action plan entitled "Innovation Denmark 2007-2010" from the Danish Council for Technology and Innovation, which has just been published, will be a key contribution ensuring that Denmark's innovation performance will continue to be strengthened, says Helge Sander.

The action plan from the Danish Council for Technology and Innovation implements the Government's globalisation strategy and the political agreement on a globalisation funding pool.