The study aims to employ a comparative analysis of various indicators such as R&D expenditure, patent applications, human resources in R&D, and employment in high-tech sectors to identify similarities and differences in innovation performance between the two groups of countries: the Nordic countries (Finland and Sweden) and Western European countries (Netherlands and Belgium). The researchers collected data from Eurostat to conduct the analysis. The methodology used a comparative approach to identify notable trends or differences between the Nordic and Western European regions based on results from innovation indicators. While the researchers were able to present data on human resources in science and technology (HRST) and the percentage of employment in high-tech sectors for NUTS 2 regions, other two indicators gross domestic expenditure on R&D and patent applications are analyzed from country perspective due to the lack of data available for some regions. Nonetheless, using indicators for both country and NUTS 2 provides valuable insights into the innovation performance from both a country and regional perspective. The study finds that Nordic countries generally perform better in terms of innovation indicators in high sectors compared to the other Western European countries.