The study »Innovation Indicator 2025« presents a sober picture of Germany’s innovation landscape. Germany remains in the upper mid-range but is under increasing pressure. Countries with clear strategic priorities, such as Switzerland, Denmark or Finland, perform significantly better. Germany, by contrast, struggles to build on its former strengths in value creation, digitalization and high-tech. Notably, a great deal of knowledge is generated in this country, but too little of it successfully reaches the market.

On page 20, the following paragraph summarizes the situation well.

Germany’s score has remained relatively stable in past years, hovering around 45 points. However, since 2018, a downward trend has been seen. This reflects the increasingly challenging international environment for Germany’s innovation system. Compared to 2018, Germany’s index values have significantly declined for nine indicators relative to developments in its reference countries. These include input-oriented factors, such as R&D expenditure in business and science, transnational patent applications, and government R&D support for companies, as well as indicators related to the economic utilization of innovations, namely the share of high-tech industries, industrial productivity and the trade balance.