(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, July 15 - Despite being 24th out of the 28 EU member states, Latvia is the country that has most improved its performance in the field of innovation. Romania, however, was ranked last of the EU member countries, along with Bulgaria, but is the only one to perform well below the EU average, according to the annual report issued by the EU's Innovation Union Scoreboard 2016, whereas Italy is a ''moderately'' innovative country along with Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland. Germany belongs to the small ''leading'' group of EU member countries, which is led once again by Sweden, but it was ranked first in terms of private investment in innovation, followed by Estonia and Austria. Comparing the numbers recorded in 2015 with those recorded in the last 8 years, Latvia and Lithuania, along with Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are the countries that have experienced the highest growth in innovation. (ANSA).