A new report by Statistics Sweden describing the results from the Community Innovation Survey 2020-2022 from a regional perspective is published today. The report is based on the EU hierarchical classification NUTS level 2, basic regions. Regional innovation statistics are limited to small and medium enterprises. Business activities of large enterprises are often conducted across regions, making attribution unclear, and is therefore out of scope in this report.

Total innovation activity in Sweden was 49 percent during 2020-2022. The lowest share of innovation active enterprises was found in Mellersta Norrland where 42 percent of the enterprises were innovation active. Östra Mellansverige and Stockholm had the highest share of innovation active enterprises, 51 percent. Out of the 58 percent that did not conduct any innovation activity in Mellersta Norrland, 97 percent reported having no need for innovation.

A lack of resources led to less innovation activity in all regions during the reference period, says Sofie Weibull, statistician at Statistics Sweden.

Across all regions, a lack of need for innovation was the main reason for non-innovation active enterprises not having innovation activities. Among innovation active enterprises, lack of resources and other reasons were more common factors for not having more innovation activities. In Övre Norrland and Västsverige 33 percent of the innovation active enterprises stated that lack of resources was the main reason.

Stockholm and Sydsverige were the regions with the highest average expenditure for innovation and R&D. 43 and 31 percent respectively above the national average. Östra Mellansverige, the region which, together with Stockholm, had the highest share of innovation active enterprises, was at the same time the region with the lowest average innovation expenditures.

The report also covers innovation activities by economic activity, turnover from product innovations, innovation cooperation, financial support for innovation as well as innovation with environmental benefits per region.

Ahead of the reference period 2020-2022, changes in the statistical unit enterprise were implemented in the Statistical Business Register. These changes affect the design of the survey which in turn affects the statistics produced. More information on the design can be found in the methodological documentation for the survey. A report on the time series break is available here.

More information on the change in the statistical unit enterprise can be found on: The economic-statistical system

Regional innovation 2020-2022 (pdf)