EU Innovation Activity and Competitiveness on the International Market in Relation to the other Competitors

This paper tries to analyse some important and present aspects of the European Union situation in the innovation activity, relatively to its main competitors on the global market: USA, Japan and China. The study shows that, although EU has been for many years behind USA and Japan and before China, from the point of view of innovation performances, the reflection of this situation in the international trade with high-tech products - one of the most significant indicators for a country or group of countries competitiveness on the international market – the report is reversed, China holding the first place and EU the second one (a good position if we consider the recent years crisis of some Union Member States). This article’s author wants to clarify most concisely the cause of this evolution, as well as the conclusions detached from the interaction of the two economic fields: innovation (and of course research and development) and high-tech products trade (especially export).