The purpose of the Global Innovation Index (GII) is to study and capture multi-dimensional facets of innovation. This helps in providing ways and measure to craft such policies that ensure the long term output growth of the economy. Adding to that it also helps in improving the productivity and the growth of jobs. The report for the year 2018 lists 126 economies and countries from all across the world. These countries comprise of 90.8% of the total population and 96.3% of the global GDP.
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The 11th edition of GII was released on July 10, 2018. The report is produced in coordination with by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, an agency of the United Nations). To design the policies that help in the eventual growth of an economy, it is important to understand the human aspects.
Most Innovative Countries: Global Innovation Index 2018
The report depicts that Finland is the country that has the highest number of scientists and engineers and it scores the most in that category. Research and development are quite remarkable. The Netherlands also comes in the top 10 because of scientific research institutions.
Sweden secured the 7th rank because the country has the second highest score on patent applications. The industry of the United States of America is quite remarkable. That is why it secured the fourth rank. Singapore is also one of the strongest economies, and it’s on the 5th rank.
They are adding to that the scores of some of the nations are progressing rapidly. Their research and development department is progressing by leaps and bounds. The governments of these developing nations are focusing more on creating contact between the students and the industry to promote research and development. China, India, and Indonesia are the three nations that have scored better than before. That is because these countries are adopting the technology. The governments of these economies pave the way for innovation by crafting suitable policies.
Following is a list of some of the countries that have scored the most on the Global Innovation Index report of the year 2018:
Country / Economy
Rank
Score (0 – 10)
Switzerland
1
68.40
Netherlands
2
63.32
Sweden
3
63.08
United Kingdom
4
60.13
Singapore
5
59.83
United States of America
6
59.81
Finland
7
59.63
Denmark
8
58.39
Germany
9
58.03
Ireland
10
57.19
Israel
11
56.79
Korea, Rep. of
12
56.63
Japan
13
54.95
Hong Kong (China)
14
54.62
Luxembourg
15
54.53
France
16
54.36
China
17
53.06
Canada
18
52.98
Norway
19
52.63
Australia
20
51.98
Austria
21
51.32
New Zealand
22
51.29
Iceland
23
51.24
Estonia
24
50.51
Belgium
25
50.50
Malta
26
50.29
Czech Republic
27
48.75
Spain
28
48.68
Cyprus
29
47.83
Slovenia
30
46.87
Italy
31
46.32
Portugal
32
45.71
Hungary
33
44.94
Lativa
34
43.18
Malaysia
35
43.16
Slovakia
36
42.88
Bulgaria
37
42.65
United Arab Emirates
38
42.58
Poland
39
41.67
Lithuania
40
41.19
Croatia
41
40.73
Greece
42
38.93
Ukraine
43
38.52
Thailand
44
38.00
Vietnam
45
37.94
Russian Federation
46
37.90
Chile
47
37.79
Moldova
48
37.63
Romania
49
37.59
Turkey
50
37.42
Global leaders in innovation
If we look at the score of different countries regionally, every region has some countries that are performing quite better than the others. In the North American area, the United States and Canada lead the other nation with a score of 59.81 and 52.98 respectively. Switzerland, Netherlands, and Sweden are the leading nations in the European region as they scored 68.40, 63.32 and 63.08 respectively. In Northern Africa and Western Asia, Israel Cyprus and UAE are performing better than other economies in the region. If we take a look at South East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania, Singapore, Republic of Korea and Japan are the leading players as they have a score of 59.83, 56.63 and 54.95 respectively in Global Innovation Index.
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Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico are the best scoring players in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Sub-Saharan African nations have an average score of 25, with South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya scoring more than others. Central and Southern Asian nations have an average score of 28 and India and Iran, and Kazakhstan is the most innovative countries here.
Optimistic Approach towards Growth
It has been almost a decade that the world is not progressing at an even rate. But the global economic momentum has now started. In this age of rapid progression, it is quite challenging to maintain a stable pace of growth. It is a challenge for the global economy to reach a stage where growth and innovation keep moving at a sustainable pace. So there is an critical need to renew the policies. Every nation needs to adopt such strategies that focus on innovation.
The most critical factor that defines innovation is investments in research and development. If the country spends more on research and development, it will start progressing and developing by leaps and bounds. As per the statistics of the last few decades, the developer spends more on innovating itself through research and development. The developing countries are also adapting this policy now. So there is a need for having an optimistic approach towards growth.
Switzerland Leads the World in Innovation:
Switzerland stands on top of the list in the countries that are most innovative. WIPO has crowned Switzerland for the 8th year in a row now. The country maintained high scores in all the aspects that define development and progression. These aspects and factors include the political environment and the regulatory environment. The research is promoted more in Switzerland. That helps in developing a strong relationship between industry and universities. So the students can stay in touch with the industry. Adding to that, industries provide even more opportunities for the students to perform research in different fields. This in terms promotes the education, and the industry flourished at an even faster pace.
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Companies of Switzerland are open towards investing in research and development (R&D). Adding to that, they collaborate well with universities to produce an economy where innovation is high on the agenda.
Why Is it Important for Every Economy to Innovate:
It is essential for a country to innovate because it is an important factor in economic growth.
The approach of countries towards innovation has changed during the last few years. Progression and innovation were mainly confined to university labs and corporate. But now, with a different approach, it is coming from various sources. The report calls it “distributed intelligence of a global crowd”.
IN the upcoming years, two threat is expected to have a significant impact on the competitiveness of economies. First of all, if the country lacks funds to fuel the research and development department, it will fail to make its mark among the developing and developed nations. So it is impossible for a country to innovate and adapt technology without proper investments. Secondly, every economy is spending more on innovation, and with more efforts, the public could also benefit from it.
