There are significant differences in the innovative capacities between the economies of the United States and European Union. The US was able to gain and maintain technological leadership, whereas most of the EU member states (with the exception of some Scandinavian economies) still lag behind in the competitiveness and innovation rankings. Several factors lie behind the differences in the US and EU innovative performance: the nature and dynamics of the R&D investments; differences in industrial structure of R&D; degree of internationalization and location of R&D investments; the linkage between inventions and the science base; the value of venture capital investment; geographical concentration of innovation activities. Thus, the evaluation of the differences in the competitiveness and innovation performance of the US and the EU must consider differences in their subject and space dimensions
