Most Innovative Nations According to Global Innovation Index

Most Innovative Nations in the World

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.

Most Innovative Nations in the World

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.

countries that have scored the most on the Global Innovation Index report of year 2018

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.

Most Innovative Nations in the World

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.

Most Innovative Nations in the World

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.