China Moves Up to 10th in 2023 National Innovation Index Rankings

The National Innovation Index Report 2022-2023 was published by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development (CASTED) on 21 November 2023.

The report ranked the innovation performance of 40 countries, which accounted for 85% plus of the world's GDP and over 95% of the world's spending in research and development (R&D), using official data published by the governments of the countries and regions under study as well as international organisations such as the World Bank and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The ranking framework was based on five main indicators, namely, innovation resources, knowledge creation, enterprise innovation, innovation performance, and innovation environment.

This year, China was ranked 10th overall, moving up three places from the previous year. And in terms of the five main indicators, China ranked 3rd in knowledge creation, reflecting the high citation rates of its papers (ranked 2nd in the world) and the number of its valid invention patents (ranked first in the world); 12th in enterprise innovation; 21st in innovation resources, 17th in innovation performance; and 23rd in innovation environment.

According to the report, north America remained to be the most innovative region in the world, of which the US and Canada accounted for 26.8% of world GDP and 39.2% of world R&D input; Europe overall was strong, of which 26 countries including the Switzerland, Germany, and France accounted for 24.9% of world GDP and 23.8% of world R&D input; and for East Asia and the Pacific region, Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand together accounted for 27.5% of world GDP and 33.1% of world R&D input.