Innovative potential of the European Union’s member states in 2017

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the innovative potential of the European Union’s countries in 2017. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors have proposed their methodology of measuring the innovative potential of the EU Member States. Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used to rank and evaluate countries’ ability to innovate with respect to internal sources of innovativeness. Findings: The analysis confirms moderate innovative capacity of the EU countries. The classification of countries on the account of their innovative potential in 2017 reveals some similarities to ranking of Global Innovation Index (Input Sub-Index). Practical Implications: The paper proves that the most innovative countries in the light of the European Innovation Scoreboard display the highest ability to innovate. Therefore, internal resources of financial and human character were found to influence the overall level of innovativeness of member states. European countries should benefit from developing their innovative potential in terms of national resources. Originality/Value: Most researchers adopt input and output approach to innovativeness because it represents a sophisticated phenomenon. Due to shortage of studies measuring solely the innovative potential of economies, the paper will contribute to the development of literature.