The EU, its Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe have continued to make substantial progress from 2010 to 2023 in key research and innovation areas across the EU, according to the latest European Research Area (ERA) Scoreboard 2025.
This third edition integrates both the former ERA Scoreboard and Dashboard into a single, streamlined monitoring tool under the ERA Monitoring Mechanism. The report provides insights and data on the progress made at EU- and national levels in the four ERA priorities: deepening a truly functional internal market for knowledge; taking up the green and digital transition and increasing society’s participation in ERA; enhancing access to research and innovation excellence across the EU; advancing concerted research and innovation investments and reforms.
Key insights: Advancements alongside persistent disparities
The findings highlight substantial progress in several ERA sub-priorities. Notable improvements are observed in areas such as R&D investment, open science, gender equality, researchers’ careers and mobility, and global engagement. Positive developments are also evident in synergies with sectoral and industrial policies, as well as in citizen and societal engagement in research and innovation. At EU-level:
- the share of publications available in open access (in % of total) is at 66.5% in 2024, while it stood at 41.4% in 2010;
- the number of researchers per million inhabitants has steadily increased from 3.055 in 2010 to 4.913 in 2024;
- the proportion of women of Grade A among academic staff/researchers has increased to 29.2% in 2023, from 19.7% in 2010.
At the same time, moderate progress has been recorded in knowledge valorisation and in efforts to strengthen R&I systems in lower-performing countries and regions. For example, the share of innovating firms collaborating with Higher Education Institutions is staggering at around 13.6% since 2020, and the number of participations of Widening countries in Horizon Europe has only slightly been increased since 2015.
The report identifies limited or stagnating progress in several key areas, including scientific leadership, challenge-based R&I actions, coordination of R&I investments, and synergies with education and skills policies. In addition, disparities between countries remain significant, particularly in collaboration capacity and excellence-based integration. For example, at the EU-level the percentage of scientific publications among the top-10% most cited publications worldwide has dropped from 10.5% in 2010 to 9.4% in 2023, and the environmentally related government R&D budget, as a percentage of total government R&D, is frozen at around 2.5% since 2010.
Overall, the ERA Scoreboard 2025 confirms that the European Research Area continues to advance in fostering coordination and shared policy frameworks. However, structural imbalances and insufficient convergence risk undermining Europe’s long-term competitiveness.
The findings emphasise the importance of stronger and sustained investment, tighter policy alignment, and enhanced collaboration across countries and sectors to fully realise the ERA’s potential.
Next steps
The ERA Scoreboard 2025 will be complemented by further analytical outputs under the ERA Monitoring Mechanism, including country-specific assessments (‘Country Snapshots’).
The European Commission plans to adopt the proposal for an ERA Act in 2026, as announced in the Competitiveness Compass for the EU.
Background
The European Research Area (ERA) aims to create a unified research and innovation market by aligning national and EU policies, improving research infrastructures and promoting open science and international collaboration. The ERA was officially launched in 2000, following its proposal by the European Commission in a communication titled ‘Towards a European Research Area’, further endorsed by the European Council and is enshrined as an objective in Article 179 of the Lisbon Treaty.
More information
European Research Area Scoreboard 2025
