China Moves Up Two Notches to 12th Place in Global Innovation Index 2021
The Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021 was recently published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in association with the Portulans Institute and other partners. According to the report, the top four economies in previous year's GII ranking, namely, Switzerland, Sweden, the US, and the UK, maintained the same leading spots in 2020; and the fifth to tenth places were occupied respectively by Korea, the Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, Denmark, and Germany.
In the 2021 GII, the top 15 comprised five Asian economies: Korea (No. 5), Singapore (No. 8), China (No. 12), Japan (No. 13), and Hong Kong (No. 14). Notably, China has moved up two notches compared with its 2020 ranking, sustaining its steady upward trajectory in the GII since 2013, whereas Korea has gained five notches from last year.
The GII 2021, with a theme of "Tracking Innovation through the COVID-19 Crisis", finds that despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and enterprises in many parts of the world have increased their investments in innovation. This trend was most obviously seen in firms whose innovation relates closely to the containment of the pandemic and its fallout, such as those of the information and communication technology (ICT) and the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sectors.
The resilience of the global innovation in 2020 was also reflected in such indicators as scientific output, expenditures in research and development (R&D), intellectual property filings, and venture capital deals, which all continued to grow during the year.
The GII, first published in 2007, provides annual global ranking of innovation capabilities of 132 economies on the basis of 81 indicators grouped into innovative inputs and outputs.
