European Innovation Scoreboard ranking 2026. Illustration, Copilot

Denmark remains EU Innovation Leader in 2026

For the tenth year in a row, Denmark holds its place as one of Europe’s three so-called innovation leaders. The Scandinavian country takes second place in the European Commission’s “European Innovation Scoreboard 2026″. After Sweden but before The Netherlands. For Innovation District Copenhagen the ranking is one of several well-performing key performance indicators, but a very important one.

Innovation as magnet

Innovation is crucial to Denmark as well as to the European Union, and Denmark’s place is the results of decades of effort by government, academia and industry. Without innovation, the EU countries would soon lose their competitiveness and resilience. In Denmark, innovation excellence is seen as the key to attracting even more deep-tech entrepreneurs and talents, but also to attract investors and companies.

Six firsts to make a second

The European ranking sums up 15 different indicators including human resources, research systems, finances and productivity. Denmark is particularly strong when it comes to public-private co-publications, international scientific co-publications and population involved in lifelong learning. The Danish second place is a result of six first places in these indicators.

No. 1 ranking: International scientific co-publications
No. 2 ranking: Scientific publications among the top 10% most cited
No. 1 ranking: Public-private co-publications
No. 1 ranking: Population involved in lifelong learning
No. 1 ranking: Individuals with above basic overall digital skills
No. 1 ranking: R&D expenditure in the public sector
No. 1 ranking: Production-based CO2 productivity
No. 3 ranking: Labour productivity

Deep global integration

Danish international scientific co publications have grown +65.9%-points since 2019. This reflects an increasingly deep integration into global research networks. Not least within the highly commercially relevant fields life sciences, quantum technology and artificial Intelligence.

Above 125% of the EU average

The European Innovation Scoreboard 2026 categorises Member States in four innovation groups based on their scores: Innovation Leaders (performance is above 125% of the EU average), Strong Innovators (between 100% and 125% of the EU average), Moderate Innovators (between 70% and 100% of the EU average) and Emerging Innovators (below 70% of the EU average).

About Innovation District Copenhagen

Innovation District Copenhagen is a world-class innovation district where you can transform your bright ideas into growth, jobs, and global solutions.