For the European Union, innovation and entrepreneurship are strong vectors to overcome global societal challenges from climate change and sustainable energy to food and healthy living. Innovation is a facilitator of entrepreneurship and a way of empowering people to take charge of their lives and economic prosperity. At the same time, entrepreneurship is the answer to innovation, the concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship being undeniably interrelated. This research proposes assessing the potential for innovation and entrepreneurship in EU countries in the context of sustainable development. With the help of hierarchical clustering analysis, EU countries were classified into four relevant clusters on the basis of the variables considered, which allowed the identification of common features and existing differences. The research was conducted using data provided by the Global Innovation Index, Global Entrepreneurship Index, Eurostat database, and Candriam ESG Country Report at the level of the 27 EU countries. The main results revealed high-performing countries in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship potential, providing relevant information for policy-makers, business practitioners, NGOs, and academics on the direction they need to take for good practice models to be adapted and implemented in countries with sub-optimal performance, to provide them with support for improvement of their innovation and entrepreneurship potential.

In this period of extreme changes in our society, issues related to the health and well-being of citizens are considered essential for the future of a united and prosperous Europe. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at EU level by 2030 requires hard work done in a transformative way in order to implement a set of coherent, evidence-informed policies that address health, well-being and all their determinants throughout the course of life and across all sectors of government and society. The objective of this paper is to assess the stage of fulfillment of all SDG targets in relation to health and well-being at EU level, based on the current trend of each indicator, for each EU member country. Based on the Eurostat SDG data set for 2007–2018, the individual trends were forecast using the AAA (Holt-Winters) version of the exponential smoothing (ETS) algorithm. The research results are surprising, on the one hand showing the possibility that some targets will be reached, but also indicating that a large percentage of targets will not be reached if the current trend is continued, especially due to disruptive change generated by the current pandemic. There is a need to increase the involvement of all member states, but also ensure a deeper involvement at the level of EU institutions, to provide full support for meeting the targets proposed by the 2030 Agenda, ensuring prosperity and health for all European citizens, and becoming a model for all the states of the world.

The European Union, by adopting the European Green Deal, aims at an extremely ambitious goal to become climate neutral by 2050. This objective implies a massive investment plan to reduce disparities between EU Member States and to support their transformation efforts in order to reshape the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. The objective of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of implementation of SDG 7 targets in EU Member States 5 years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. Using hierarchical clustering analysis to reveal hidden associative structures, EU countries were grouped in 2015 and 2019 based on Eurostat data in order to identify and analyze key characteristics, but also to evaluate their evolution over time. The results of this research revealed clusters of high-performing countries, as well as countries that require increased attention and support to ease the transition to a greener economy. If in 2015 the cluster of the best performing countries consisted of four EU countries, in 2019, their number increased to eight EU countries, simultaneously with an improvement of the indicators, proving a real concern and involvement regarding the achievement of SDG 7 targets.

Organic agriculture is considered an important component of sustainable development because it promotes environmental sustainability and social responsibility, involving the use of practices that minimize the negative impact of agriculture on the environment and human health. Through this research, we aim to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the current state of and perspectives on specific indicators of organic agriculture from the perspective of the SDGs assumed by EU member countries in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Based on Eurostat data covering the timeframe from 2008 to 2021, an ARIMA model was used to analyze the data and forecast trends in the selected indicators until 2030. The results of this unique study provide relevant information on the indicators and countries for which positive developments are expected up to 2030, as opposed to those indicators for which mixed or negative developments are forecast. The findings of this research empower policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders to identify possible negative developments and take appropriate corrective action, with the aim of achieving the goals proposed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In the current economic, social and political context, maintaining a stable trajectory of sustainable development, and thus achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, must be the central objective of every European country. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the level of achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Portugal, given that there were no similar published studies. The data used in the research was compiled from European Statistical Office – Eurostat, from 2007 until the most recent reports, and were processed and interpreted based on dynamic indices and time series forecasting (ARIMA model). Research results predict 57.50% achievement of the SDG targets, placing Portugal in the ranks of EU countries with high performance in terms of sustainable development and transition to a low-carbon economy.

Reducing inequalities for EU citizens and promoting upward convergence is one of the priorities on the agenda of the European Commission and, certainly, inequality will be a very important public policy issue for years to come. Through this research we aim to investigate EU labor market inequalities, reflected by the specific indicators proposed for Goal 8 assumed by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, based on cluster analysis for all the 27 Member States. The research results showed encouraging results from the perspective of convergence in the EU labor market, but also revealed a number of analyzed variable effects that manifested regional inequalities that were generated in the medium and long term. Based on the observations made, we want to provide information for policy-makers, business practitioners, and academics so as to constitute solid ground for identifying good practices and proposing to implement policies aimed at reducing existing inequalities and supporting sustainable development.