May 2024 marks 20 years since the EU’s largest single enlargement, when 10 countries joined. This opened a new chapter for these member states, with most of them having come through a turbulent decade in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union and communist governments.
The data show that great progress has been made in improving research and innovation systems in that time, with more public money being pumped in, more international scientific collaboration, and more private investment.
Some countries, such as Estonia and Lithuania, have made huge strides and are now…