From Data to Insights: Decoding Cyprus’ standing in the European Innovation Scoreboard 2024 – PART II

The recently published European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024 shows Cyprus retaining its place among Strong Innovators ranking 10th among member states. The country’s performance validates many of the findings in our national strategy for R&I, but also offers key insights into what leading countries are doing differently.

Taking a closer look, our national strategy for R&I aims to build world-class research and unleash the incredible power of research and innovation in businesses to fuel their success. We are creating the enabling conditions to attract talent, support the creation and development of startups and scaleups, integrate R&D and new product or service development into established enterprises and host multinational corporations here. We are making it more appealing for investors but also international partners to work with us. Our aim is to bolster our strengths, address weaknesses and make the most of opportunities that lie ahead to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of Cyprus.

Looking to leading countries as a means of exploring additional measures that may boost CY performance, specifically in areas with room for improvement, a notable trend of the Innovation Leaders is an overall increase in R&D investment, particularly by the private sector. This results from a clear understanding that integrating R&D and new product and service development into the value creation of businesses can provide companies with a strategic advantage that can drive their overall growth and that of their countries.

In addition, all Innovation Leaders demonstrate strong improvements in venture capital expenditures, indicative of the need for more initiatives when it comes to attracting VC funding in Cyprus. Afterall, an increase in VC investments can truly make a difference by boosting the scalability of startups, increasing productivity across various sectors and enhancing the country’s position in global markets.

Collaboration in scientific research is also a main driver for innovation performance within the Innovation Leaders. They all significantly increased their public-private co-publications and their international co-publications between 2017 and 2024, a trend that is already evident in Cyprus’ performance over the past years.

In terms of the overall performance of the EU, it is evident that there is a strong need to make bigger strides when it comes to R&D. Focussing on tackling the challenges the EU faces compared to its main global competitors -particularly when it comes to intellectual assets and R&D expenditure in the business sector- is important but it is also merely the tip of the iceberg. These challenges are intensified by rising global competition in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies that are largely in the hands of the industry, reshaping the landscape for the EU’s performance at the global stage.

Understanding insights, observing the strategies employed by global competitors and allocating efforts and resources in the right direction is more important than ever before, both at an EU and a national level. Cyprus remains the only country in the south to be in the elite group of Strong or Leading Innovators, a position that comes with a considerable burden of responsibility in sustaining and - why not - surpassing it. We must persist in our collective efforts, learn from the best, adjust to our own realities and take decisive actions time and again.

By Theodoros Loukaidis, Director General of the Cyprus Research & Innovation Foundation (RIF)

Co-authored with Eli David Rokah, CEO StartUpBlink