High-tech exports
How advanced a region's exports are. A high share means it sells frontier products, not commodities.
Where Europe stands now
High-tech exports
How advanced a region's exports are. A high share means it sells frontier products, not commodities.
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EU vs US vs China vs D9+ over time
% of manufactured exports
The story
High-tech exports measure how much of a country's exports come from knowledge-intensive industries: pharmaceuticals, electronics, aerospace, advanced machinery. Where total exports measure volume, this indicator measures technological sophistication.
A high share means a country is commercialising innovation and competing in industries where research and specialised expertise create the value. Europe still leads in several advanced manufacturing sectors, but the United States and China have both expanded their technological and industrial capacity, and the competition has hardened.
Why it matters
High-tech exports carry some of the highest value added in the economy. They rest on advanced research, skilled workers and continuous innovation, which makes them a source of productivity growth, well-paid jobs and long-term competitiveness.
They also change how a country competes: on innovation and quality rather than labour costs. That resilience is worth prosperity and strategic autonomy at once, in exactly the industries that will matter most over the coming decades.
Policy context
Industrial competitiveness is back at the centre of the EU agenda. In semiconductors, clean technologies, pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing, holding a strong industrial base has become a strategic question, not just an economic one.
Expanding high-tech exports takes more than manufacturing capacity. It takes the whole innovation system: research, commercialisation, capital, skilled talent and a business environment in which innovative firms can scale and compete globally.