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Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore top in overall innovation performance, according to the Global Innovation Index 2012 (GII).
The index, part of a report published by INSEAD, a business school, and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a United Nations agency, ranks 141 countries on the basis of their innovation capabilities.
It points to the emergence of new successful innovators, as seen by a range of countries across continents in the top 20 GII rankings, as well as the good performances of emerging countries such as Latvia, Malaysia and China, among others. “The GII is a timely reminder that policies to promote innovation are critical to the debate on spurring sustainable economic growth. The downward pressure on investment in innovation exerted by the current crisis must be resisted. Otherwise, we risk durable damage to countries’ productive capacities,” said Mr Francis Gurry, WIPO Director-General, in a release issued here on Wednesday.
The list of overall GII top 10 performers has changed little from last year. Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore are followed in the top 10 by Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, and the US . Canada is the only country out of the top 10 this year.
The US continues to be an innovation leader but the report also cites relative shortfalls in areas such as education, human resources and innovation outputs as causing a drop in its innovation ranking.
The report notes a need for the BRIC countries (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, and China) to invest further in their innovation capabilities. China’s performance on the key knowledge and technology outputs pillar is outpaced only by Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, and Finland.
However, both China and India have weaknesses in their innovation infrastructure and environment. The report also notes that Brazil has suffered the largest drop among the BRIC.
On average, high-income countries outpace countries with less income per capita by a wide margin across the board.
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