Innovation in the EU: technological and creative performances in numbers across urban and rural regions

This brief presents new JRC evidence on innovation performance across EU territories, with a focus on differences between urban, intermediate and rural regions. By building innovation indicators constructed and estimated for the first time at a sufficiently granular territorial level to capture differences between urban and rural regions on R&D investment, patents, trademarks and industrial designs, the analysis confirms urban–rural innovation gaps, while also revealing substantial heterogeneity not only between urban and rural regions, but also among rural regions themselves. While innovation activity remains highly concentrated in urban areas, the evidence also points to a limited number of rural regions that notably stand out in specific innovation dimensions, often linked to specialised industrial structures, public research capacity or proximity to urban innovation hubs. These findings highlight both the concentration of innovation activity in urban regions and the presence of pockets of strong innovation capacity in rural territories, pointing to the existence of innovation potential beyond urban centres and underscoring the importance of place-based policies that recognise territorial diversity and support more balanced innovation-driven competitiveness across EU regions