European Innovation Scoreboard 2025: Austria remains a 'Strong Innovator'

The European Innovation Scoreboard 2025 (EIS) by the EU Commission once again confirms Austria as a 'Strong Innovator'. Particularly noteworthy is Austria's first-place ranking within the EU in the area of 'Intellectual Assets', including design, trademark and patent applications. Investments in research and development are also rated very positively - both domestically and internationally. This strong performance indicates the high quality of Austria's innovation landscape and the strong connection between science and industry.    

Start-ups still struggling to secure funding

However, there are weaknesses when it comes to the commercialisation and scaling of innovations. In particular, financing for young, innovative companies remains a challenge. This highlights the importance of making intangible assets, such as patents on a company's own inventions, visible on the balance sheet. Doing so allows potential investors to better assess a company's innovation potential. The Austrian Patent Office has already drawn up a concrete proposal for this, which has been incorporated into the current government programme. This could enable innovative companies to receive more targeted support in raising capital in the future.

Northern Europe at the top

Overall, Austria ranks 8th in the innovation index, down from 6th place last year. However, the methodology of the EIS has changed since last year, so direct comparisons are not possible.  There has also been a shift at the top of the ranking: Sweden now leads among EU countries, having displaced Denmark, followed by the Netherlands and Finland. Behind Austria are Germany, France and Estonia.

The report overall demonstrates Austria's continued strong innovative capacity, while also highlighting key areas for action to avoid falling behind Europe's leading  innovation nations.

read the full report