Empirical analysis of technological innovation capacity and competitiveness in EU-15 countries

This paper carries out an analysis of the existence and characteristics of technology innovation clusters in EU-15 countries, also studying if belonging to a group or cluster explains differences in competitiveness among countries. Based on the main Science and Technology Indicators 2009 published by Eurostat (European Commission, 2009a) in addition to competitiveness indicators used by the European Commission (2009b), the World Economic Forum (2009) and IMD (2008), an empirical study has been conducted- using a cluster analysis - about the technological innovation and competitiveness variables for each country during the period 1998 to 2008. The results indicate the existence of five distinct groups of countries characterized by different levels of technological innovation and competitiveness.