The development of a national or regional innovation system is impacted by a series of socio-economic factors: macroeconomic environment (GDP, value added, employment rate, productivity, exports, competitiveness), demographic evolution, economic specialisation, available infrastructure ...

The macroeconomic imbalance procedure (MIP) aims to identify, prevent and address the emergence of macroeconomic imbalances that could adversely affect economic stability in an EU country, in the euro area, or in the EU as a whole. The MIP is triggered by the 'Alert Mechanism Report' which rests on a scoreboard of 14 headline indicators and indicative thresholds, covering the major sources of macroeconomic imbalances.

With the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the EU member countries committed themselves "to respect the medium-term budgetary objective of positions close to balance or in surplus, set out in their stability or convergence programs..." (Resolution of the European Council on the Stability and Growth Pact. Amsterdam, 17 June 1997).

Evolution of population and employment rate.

Evolution of GDP, inflation, and productivity. The evolution of productivity is closely related to innovation and technical progress.

Sectoral specialisation data reveal which sectors contribute most to value added and employment.

Exports are a key source of economic growth and can be used to assess the competitiveness of a country or a region.

The presence of high-quality physical and digital infrastructure contributes to the productivity and growth of enterprises and to innovation.