Brussels ranked among Europe's most innovative regions

According to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2023, Brussels is one of Europe’s leading regions when it comes to innovation. Innoviris, the Brussels-Capital Region’s institute for promoting scientific research and innovation, announced the news on Tuesday.

The scoreboard ranks the performance of 239 regions in 22 EU member states and neighbouring countries. They're rated on 21 indicators that measure investment in innovation, innovative activities and their impact. 

For 211 of the regions, performance improved between 2016 and 2023. Brussels experienced the strongest growth of Belgium’s regions, while the country as a whole remains in the top 5 behind Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

"Innoviris is focusing its resources on addressing the social and environmental challenges facing our region"

Brussels is ahead of the European average in innovation expenditure per employee; knowledge transfer and production; the number of employees specialising in ICT; and successful collaborations between innovative SMEs.

"The Brussels research and innovation ecosystem proves once again that it is among the frontrunners in Europe," said Barbara Trachte, Brussels state secretary for Economic Transition and Scientific Research. "Our ambition is to consolidate this status by putting our region at the forefront of economic transition. Innoviris is therefore focusing its resources on addressing the social and environmental challenges facing our region."

Compared with the highest-ranked regions, the scoreboard shows that Brussels has room for improvement in terms of R&D spending in the public and private sectors, as well as product and process innovation in SMEs.

^{Illustration picture of the BeCentral digital campus, a technology co-working and innovation space in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT}