Nordregio maps the EU Regional Innovation Scoreboard’s Regional Innovation Index across Nordic regions, showing how each performs relative to the EU average.

Nordic regions consistently punch above the EU average on innovation — but not uniformly. Stockholm tops the ranking with an index of 0.83, some 55% above the EU average, followed closely by capital and metropolitan regions such as Helsinki-Uusimaa, Hovedstaden and Oslo og Viken, all classed as “Innovation leaders.”

Performance thins out toward the northern and eastern peripheries: Mellersta Norrland in Sweden sits just below the EU average as a “Moderate Innovator,” the only Nordic region outside the top two performance tiers.

The overall picture is one of a strong, innovation-dense Nordic core radiating out from the capital regions, with a gentler gradient than in most of the EU.