The international balance of power in innovation is shifting. When it comes to world-class patents in important cutting-edge technologies, the United States still occupies the leading position in almost every field. But China is catching up fast or has already overtaken the United States in some areas thanks to its much greater dynamic. This is the central finding of our new study on the development of national and regional portfolios of patents in cutting-edge technologies since 2000.

You can download figures from the study here:
- Recycling
- Photovoltaics
- Blockchain
- 5G
- Functional Food
- Vaccines
- Artificial Intelligence
- Additive Manufacturing

Services make up the lion share of modern developed economies. But their productivity developments have often been lagging. We investigate first whether increased digitalisation can actually improve productivity developments in the services sector and conclude that indeed it has strong effects. In a second step, we look into the factors driving digitalisation in the services sector. As a rule, the more competitive a sector is, the more likely it is to adopt digital technologies to improve its productivity.

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- Services Value-added in GDP and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in the Euro Area
- Distribution of Labour Productivity in the EU and US

Technological innovations are essential drivers of long-term and sustainable growth to ensure prosperity. Accordingly, there is currently a debate in Germany and the EU as to whether a new, strategic industrial policy can be an answer to the complex dynamics of digitisation.

You can download figures from the focus paper here:

- Total factor productivity growth
- Patent applications in Europe, 2018

In times of Trump and Brexit, protectionist tendencies seem to be a global trend. The advantages that economic interconnectedness implies are increasingly receding into the background. The calculations of Copenhagen Economics on behalf of Bertelsmann Stiftung show, however, that foreign-owned firms make a considerable contribution to employment and gross domestic product (GDP) in the EU and Germany.

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- Spillovers by foreign-owned firms
- Jobs supported by foreign-owned firms in Germany
- GDP supported by foreign-owned firms in Germany