The North American and European innovation ecosystems are increasingly complex and diverse. In cooperation with think-tanks from Canada, the USA, and Italy, the German Economic Institute (IW) evaluated 13 indicators that assess the innovation competitiveness of 96 regions in Canada, Germany, Italy, and the USA in three categories: knowledge economy, globalization and innovation capacity.
Although German states perform outstandingly in terms of innovation competitiveness, there are some challenges ahead to keep the advantage: demographic change, digitalization, decarbonization, and deglobalization.
To resolve these problems Germany may consider investing more into STEM education, promoting high skilled immigration, and facilitating regulation reform to decrease bureaucracy.