cern in geneva

Swiss innovation on an ostentatious scale: CERN in Geneva.

Keystone / Christian Beutler

An annual analysis by the European Commission notes that the Swiss score dropped slightly compared to last year, but not enough to cost it its top continental spot.

Switzerland has topped the European Commission’s Innovation Scoreboard for eight years running. The 2025 version of the report, which compares the 27 European Union (EU) member states and twelve other European countries, was published on Tuesday.

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This year, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Great Britain round out the top five. Beyond Europe, South Korea is the most innovative country. The scoreboard looks at a total of 32 indicators covering different aspects of innovation.

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robot and kid

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Is Switzerland as innovative as it ranks?

This content was published on

Nov 12, 2024

Switzerland consistently tops rankings of the most innovative countries. What’s behind its success?

Read more: Is Switzerland as innovative as it ranks?

Compared with 2024, Switzerland scored lower this year – this was specifically due to a decline in the indicator for design applications, the report noted. However, access to fast Internet, among other things, showed a positive trend.

Switzerland also boasts the most attractive research system in Europe, the report states.

Translated from French by DeepL/dos

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