INE participates in the METRIC Project and as a part of this project it has examined the innovation potential of the European regions in terms of transportation industry. Data from the Eurostat were used. This map shows the result regarding the share of employees in Science and Technology, which is a basic part of innovation. This indicator “standardized share of employees in Science and Technology per group of regions” builds a score, which allows a ranking of the regions. The higher the score, the higher the ranking of the region in the indicator. Regions were classified in three categories: “more developed regions” (>90% of European GDP average), “transition regions” (90-75% of European GDP average) and “less developed regions” (<75% of European GDP average) using the classification of the European Cohesion Fund.
Particularly high levels of innovation are reported in Austria, western Germany and the regions between Lyon and Marsailles. Also of interest are Catalonia, Greater Paris and Helsinki. Eastern Europe is rather below average in this category.