The Republic has a higher percentage of science and engineering graduates than any other European Union state, the US or Japan, but has a weak research and development base, according to a new study published later today.

The European Innovation Scorecard prepared by the European Commission has found the Republic has a strong high-tech manufacturing base, high levels of home internet access and the highest percentage of science graduates of all the States surveyed.

The Republic was given a high score in similar categories to the US which had a high proficiency in areas such as high value added manufacturing and home internet access. Other member-states scored relatively poorly in these categories, probably reflecting the influence of US investment on the Republic.

The Republic was ranked top of the European high-tech manufacturing league table ahead of its closest rival Finland, and only narrowly behind the US, according to a draft report seen by The Irish Times, which will be published today by the Commission.

However, the Republic scored poorly in several of the 17 categories measured by the innovation scorecard, which tracks EU states progress towards becoming more competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economies.

The report singles out poor levels of research and development, a poor commitment to life-long learning programmes, and relatively low number of patent applications in the Republic. It notes, however, an upward trend in patent applicationshere, a trend matched in other EU states with annual applications growing 55 per cent in 2002.

The European Innovation Scoreboard concludes that the innovation performance of the EU is still low compared to its main global competitors.

Japan leads the EU in eight of the 10 indicators for which comparable data was available, while the US leads for seven.

For new science and engineering graduates and public research and development expenditures the EU and US averages are very close. The only significant EU lead within the three competing regions is its lead over Japan in home internet access.

However, the report notes that analysing the trends reported by the three competing regions is more encouraging. For five of eight comparable trend indicators the EU trend has improved faster than the US.

Compared to the Japan, the EU leads in all seven available trend indicators. These overall positive trend results suggest that the EU may be catching up with its competitors, it says.

The leading innovative states within the EU are the smaller northern European economies, including Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. The UK is the most innovative of the larger economies, says the report.