15 Most Advanced Countries in Europe

Over the course of recent human history, Europe has proven to be the bedrock of innovation. It is responsible for some of the most important advancements in history – ones that have shaped the modern world as it is today. For instance, the first patent for an industrially applicable internal combustion engine was filed by the British inventor Samuel Brown in 1823. This was a rather simple design, which involved filling up a chamber with flame and then putting the flame out to create a vacuum which ended up driving a piston and creating force. This simple design has spurred the automotive revolution, as all cars, trucks, and other engines use a piston to create force. Of course, the steam engine itself is a European design, courtesy of efforts from Thomas Newcomen and James Watt.

Today’s Europe is no different and has some of best universities all over the globe. It is also host to some of the most complex industries out there such as space exploration and aerospace. For instance, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) flew its Artemis 1 mission in mid November and early December around the Moon. The mission used the Orion spacecraft, and this ship was propelled by the European service module. This module powered the entire journey and was responsible for managing the ship’s electrical systems and generating solar electricity as well. Another remarkable European space achievement earlier this year came when NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) saw two cube satellites belonging to the Italian Space Agency snap back remarkable visuals of Earth from millions of miles away and the DART spacecraft itself crashing into the asteroid to change its path.

Another advanced industry that is present in Europe is the biotechnology industry. This sector involves using biological materials to treat a variety of diseases such as cancer. European firms such as Laboratoires Pierre Fabre are developing treatments for cancer, and this company announced in December 2022 that the European Commission had approved its treatment for the Epstein Barr virus-positive posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (EBV+ PTLD). Another European biotechnology firm, which is at the forefront of genetic engineering – the process of changing the biological makeup of the human body – is CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP). Headquartered in Switzerland, the company’s Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) platform enables making changes to DNA to treat diseases such as cancer.

Finally, Europe is also a leading player in jet engine manufacturing. More than half of the world’s jet engine manufacturing companies are located in Europe, which isn’t a surprise as the continent is the one that also invented the modern day jet engine. The father of the modern day jet engine is thought to be Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, and British firm Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON:RR.L) is the world’s second largest jet engine manufacturer.

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Our Methodology

Determining which country is advanced in a broader sense is a difficult task since there are no objective criteria. While it is easy to classify nations in sectors such as nanotechnology simply by looking at their patents, for example, a broader look is different since it requires understanding deeper frameworks such as industrial and government strength. Fortunately, though, Insider Monkey has a long list of the best countries in key areas such as space technology, artificial intelligence, military technology, renewable energy, robotics, science, electronics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. These are the most important sectors in technology today, and we took a look at all of them and assigned the European countries a score and then added these together. The countries with lower scores are more advanced.

15 Most Advanced Countries in Europe

15. Republic of Austria

Insider Monkey’s Score: 129

The Republic of Austria is a Central European country with one of the highest GDP per capita in the world $64,750. Like most other European countries, it has leading science and technology research institutes. These include those that study the function of the brain by investigating areas such as music processing, motor function, and regions of the brain that become activated during an epileptic seizure. Others, such as the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) conduct research on a wide variety of areas such as stem cell biology, cancer cells, neuron function, and genetic expression. Some leading Austrian biotechnology firms are APEIRON Biologics, Ribbon Biolabs, and HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOK).

14. Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Insider Monkey’s Score: 124

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the most prosperous nation on Earth when its GDP per capita of $140,694 is considered which is the highest on the planet in purchasing power parity terms. The country is known for dedicating its efforts to the field of asteroid mining, which many believe is the next trillion dollar arena. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg hosts the European space mining sector, which aims to investigate space resources such as water on the Moon and metals and minerals on asteroids.

13. Kingdom of Belgium

Insider Monkey’s Score: 109

The Kingdom of Belgium is a Northwestern European country with a $723 billion GDP. Belgian scientists are credited to have invented the modern day dynamo and even the Big Bang theory which is humanity’s best attempt at explaining the origin of the universe. Some famous Belgian technology companies are Tobania Vlaams Braban, Signpost België Oost Vlaanderen, and Macsys Oost Vlaanderen.

12. Republic of Finland

Insider Monkey’s Score: 108

The Republic of Finland is a Northern European country with a $267 billion economy. The country is known for its high levels of education and scientific output. Finland spent 2.4 billion Euros in research and development as part of its 2022 budget, with businesses and universities accounting for the largest portion of the spending. Additionally, the Finnish government reported in April 2022 that more than 18% of the companies in the country had used R&D spending to reap environmental benefits. Key Finnish inventions include the electric sail, the heart rate monitor, your internet browser, and the sauna.

11. Kingdom of Spain

Insider Monkey’s Score: 107

The Kingdom of Spain is a Southwestern European country with a $2.2 trillion GDP and a history that dates back to 42,000 years ago. Spain’s space agency has launched a variety of different satellites, and it also houses instruments that are used for deep space exploration missions to track the payloads. Additionally, the Spanish engineer Emilio Herrera is often dubbed the inventor of the space suit. Other Spanish scientific contributions are large hull ships and a mechanical calculator.

10. Republic of Türkiye

Insider Monkey’s Score: 106

The Republic of Türkiye is a European and Asian country with a strong manufacturing industry that contributes significantly to its exports. Turkey also has a strong military industrial complex, and it is one of the few countries in the world that is capable of manufacturing the F-16 fighter jet and parts for the F-35 – the world’s largest fifth generation fighter jet platform.

9. Denmark

Insider Monkey’s Score: 105

Denmark is a Northern European country with a $69,283 GDP per capita. Danish companies are involved in revolutionary new fields such as converting waste into ethanol, developing a wide variety of programming languages, and contributing to nanoscale engineering, and quantum computing. Denmark is also known for its Medicon Valley cluster, which is one of Europe’s largest life sciences clusters.

Famous Danish technology firms include Novozymes A/S (CPH:NZYM-B.CO), Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND), and Mærsk A/S (CPH:MAERSK-B.CO) – with the latter being one of the largest shipping companies in the world.

8. Swiss Confederation

Insider Monkey’s Score: 102

The Swiss Confederation is a landlocked European country with a $739 billion economy. The Swiss industry manufactures several high tech aerospace products such as fairing covers and motors for Mars rovers. Swiss scientists are also credited with having discovered the DNA, the fundamentals of heat exchange, and contributions to superconductivity. Perhaps the most famous Swiss technology firm these days is CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP), which is carrying the country’s strong work with human DNA.

7. Italian Republic

Insider Monkey’s Score: 101

The Italian Republic is a Southern European country with a long history of scientific advancements. Italians have contributed significantly to modern day astronomy, by discovering planetary motions through the work of Galileo Galilei. Modern day Italy continues this tradition, with the Italian Space Agency partnering up with NASA for crucial missions such as an asteroid redirection test earlier this year which was the first of its kind.

6. Kingdom of Sweden

Insider Monkey’s Score: 100

The Kingdom of Sweden is a Northern European nation with a $684 billion GDP. It is known for crucial inventions such as the sun valve, which shuts the flow of gas during sunlight. The Swedish engineer Alfred Nobel invented the dynamo and also started the Nobel prize. Swedish inventors have thousands of patents to their name, and modern day inventions include an ulcer medicine, a wheel capable of moving in any direction, and a battery powered pacemaker. One of Sweden’s most famous companies is Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) (NASDAQ:ERIC), commonly known as Ericsson.

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Disclosure: None. 15 Most Advanced Countries in Europe is originally published on Insider Monkey.