“Strong Innovator”: The European Commission’s Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2025, places the Basque Country among the territories with the greatest innovation capacity.
The Basque Country once again stands out among Europe’s most innovative regions. The European Commission’s Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2025 places the Basque Country in the “Strong Innovator” category, meaning that it ranks among the territories with the highest innovation capacity, placing it 81st out of 241 European regions.
The report confirms that the Basque Country remains above the European Union average and consolidates its position as one of Spain’s most advanced innovation hubs.
The analysis by Orkestra, featured in an article by Aitor Sedano on the ‘RIS 2025’ (Territorial Smart Specialisation Strategy), focuses on a clear idea: the Basque Country has a very strong foundation for innovation, but it must address certain imbalances that prevent it from fully exploiting its potential. In this regard, the report provides a picture of contrasts within a mature system, with clear strengths as well as some bottlenecks that need to be addressed.
Among its main strengths, Human Capital, its scientific base and digital connectivity stand out. The Basque Country ranks among the best-performing European regions in terms of the population with tertiary education and also achieves strong results in broadband access and continuous learning. These indicators reflect a territory with talent, knowledge and favourable conditions for sustaining an innovative economy.
However, the analysis warns that this strength is not always translated with the same intensity across the entire productive sector. One of the main challenges is ensuring that innovation reaches businesses more effectively, particularly SMEs, which continue to face greater difficulties than large companies in adopting advanced technologies, increasing innovation expenditure or making use of tools such as cloud computing.
Another indicator supporting the strong performance of the Basque innovation system is knowledge transfer. The Basque Country achieves good results in scientific-business co-publications, as well as in collaboration between innovative companies and knowledge centres. This balance between research, technology and the productive sector has been one of the defining characteristics of the Basque model over the last decades.
Positive signals can also be seen in market performance. Sales of innovative products are performing well, confirming that part of the effort invested in R&D and development is ultimately having a real impact on the economy. Nevertheless, Orkestra stresses that the challenge is no longer simply to innovate, but to extend innovation across more sectors and more companies in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the country’s economy as a whole.
Ultimately, the RIS 2025 confirms that the Basque Country remains at the forefront of European innovation. However, it also conveys a broader message: moving forward is not so much about starting from scratch, but about ensuring that this innovative strength reaches further and benefits more stakeholders across the Basque economic fabric.
About Aitor Sedano: Currently works as a Research Technician at Orkestra. Holds a Master’s degree in Economics, Empirical Applications and Public Policy, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, both from the University of the Basque Country (EHU).
