WIPO publishes the Global Innovation Index 2022

On September 29, 2022, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022, with Switzerland, the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as the world's most innovative economies, with China ranking 11th
.
Other emerging economies, including India and Turkey, also maintained their consistently strong performance, with the two countries entering the top 40
for the first time.

The report shows that R&D and other investments driving global innovation activities continue to flourish in 2021, but there are challenges in turning innovation investments into impact, with current signs of slowing down in technological progress and applications
.

1.
Main conclusions

(1) In 2021, R&D spending by the world's top companies increased by nearly 10% to more than $900 billion, higher than in
2019 before the pandemic.
This growth was mainly driven by four industries: ICT hardware and electrical equipment; Software and ICT services; Pharmaceutical and biotechnology; as well as construction and industrial metals
.

(2) Global R&D investment growth in 2020 was 3.
3%, a slowdown
from an all-time high of 6.
1% in 2019.
In 2020, government budget allocations from the economies with the highest R&D spending showed strong growth
.

Government R&D budgets in 2021 are a different story: spending in South Korea and Germany is increasing, while spending in the United States and Japan is decreasing
.

(3) In 2021, venture capital transactions surged by 46%, comparable to the level of the Internet boom in the late 1990s
.
Venture capital growth was strongest in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa
.

However, the venture capital outlook for 2022 is clearer; Tighter monetary policy and the impact on venture capital will slow venture capital down
.

2.
GII ranking

In the annual ranking of world economies in terms of innovation capacity and output (Table 1), the GII shows that there have been some important changes in the top 15 rankings: the United States climbed to 2nd, the Netherlands 2nd, Singapore 7th, Germany 8th, and China rose 1 place to 11th, just one step away from
the top ten.

Canada (15th) re-entered the top 15
of global innovators.
Turkey (37th) and India (40th) enter the top 40 for the first time
.
In addition, Vietnam (48th), Iran (53rd) and the Philippines (59th) are the middle-income economies
that have made the fastest progress in innovation performance to date.

In terms of the level of economic development, some developing economies have performed higher than expected in terms of innovation, including newly joined Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Pakistan
.

Eight countries with outstanding innovation performance are from sub-Saharan Africa, with Kenya, Rwanda and Mozambique leading the way
.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil, Peru and Jamaica outperformed development
.

Table 1 Global Innovation Index 2022 Top 20

3.
Global innovation landscape

(1) North America

The U.
S.
climbed to second place, while Canada re-entered the top 15 of global innovators, rising to 15th
.
Of the 81 GII indicators in 2022, the U.
S.
scored the highest scores globally, including global corporate R&D investors, venture capital investors, university quality, quality and impact of scientific publications, and corporate intangible asset strength
.

Canada scored highest
on venture capital recipients, joint venture and strategic alliance deals, and computer software spending.

(2) Europe

Europe continues to have the largest number of innovation leaders, with a total of 15 among the top 25
.
Of the 39 European economies involved, 12 rose in the rankings this year: the Netherlands (5), Germany (8), Austria (17), Estonia (18), Luxembourg (19), Malta (21), Italy (28), Spain (29), Poland (38), Greece (44), the Republic of Moldova (56) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (70).

Switzerland has been the world's number
one in innovation for 12 consecutive years.
It is a global leader in innovation output, particularly in terms
of the number of patent applications filed by its own people, software spending, high-tech manufacturing and production, and export complexity.

Sweden (3) is a global leader in infrastructure and business maturity, ranking first
in indicators such as researchers, R&D spending and knowledge-intensive employment.

Germany, which entered the top 10 in 2016, achieved its highest ranking since 2009 this year, leading
the world in terms of corporate R&D investors.
Estonia has made significant progress into the top 20, leading the world
in terms of venture capital trading, ICT services imports, new business creation, and mobile app development.

(3) Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania

Two economies in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania – South Korea (6) and Singapore (7) – are among the top 10 global innovators; Five other economies entered the top 25, namely China (11), Japan (13), Hong Kong (14), New Zealand (24) and Australia (25
).
Singapore, China and New Zealand all improved
their rankings this year.

In terms of the region as a whole, Vietnam (48), the Philippines (59), Indonesia (75), Cambodia (97) and Laos (112) have made the most
progress over the past decade.
These economies are also leading the way
in key innovation indicators.

Vietnam leads the world in high-tech imports, and the Philippines is a world leader in high-tech exports
.

Indonesia has made a leap forward this year, achieving the best place since 2012, is a global leader in entrepreneurship policy and culture, has also made significant progress in innovation linkages and intangible assets, and has performed well
in indicators such as start-up and large-scale enterprise financing, and corporate intangible asset strength.

(4) Central and South Asia

India (40) finished first in the region this year and into the top 40 after entering the top 50 in 2020
.
Iran (53) and Uzbekistan (82) followed
.

India is an innovation leader in the lower middle-income group, continuing to lead the world in ICT services exports and maintaining the highest ranking in other indicators, including value of venture capital receipts, start-up and large-scale enterprise financing, science and engineering graduates, labor productivity growth and domestic industry diversification
.

Iran occupies the third place in the lower middle-income group and, for the second consecutive year, has exceeded expectations for its level of development in terms of innovation, leading the world in indicators such as the number of trademark applications and graduates of science and engineering
.

Uzbekistan rose four places in the rankings, exceeding development expectations
for the first time in terms of innovation.
Sri Lanka (85), Pakistan (87) and Bangladesh (102) have improved
significantly in their rankings this year.
However, only Pakistan's ranking has remained stable
over time.

(5) North Africa and West Asia

Israel (16), Cyprus (27) and the United Arab Emirates (31) are the region's leaders
in innovation.

Israel has been a leader in innovation for the past 15 years, leading
the way in venture capital transactions, female employees with advanced degrees, international patent applications filed per GDP through the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and exports of ICT services as a share of total trade.

The United Arab Emirates is moving closer to the top 30 and continues to rank in the top five
in terms of the number of corporate researchers and privately funded research and development.
Turkey (37) enters the top 40, ranks 4th in the world for its intangible assets and shows a clear advantage
in terms of industrial designs, trademark applications and the density of corporate intangible assets.

Ten other economies in the region also moved up in the rankings, including Saudi Arabia (51), Qatar (52), Kuwait (62), Morocco (67) and Bahrain (72).

(6) Latin America and the Caribbean

Chile (50) is the only Latin American country to make it into the top 50, ranking first in the region, followed by Brazil (54) and Mexico (58
).

Chile ranks well
in terms of higher education enrolment and new businesses.
Brazil has made significant progress in terms of innovation output, especially in terms of creative outputs such as intangible assets and online ideas, as well as trademark applications and mobile application development
.

Mexico leads the way
in indicators such as exports of creative goods, imports and exports of high-tech.

Of the 18 economies covered by the region, 8 rose
in the rankings.
Colombia (63), Peru (65), Argentina (69) and the Dominican Republic (90) all improved
significantly in their rankings this year.

It is worth noting that Peru is a global leader this year in terms of loan availability for microfinance institutions, graduates of science and engineering, and utility model applications
.
Peru, Brazil and Jamaica (76) also performed higher than expected
for their level of development in terms of innovation.

(7) Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa (61) took first place in the region, followed by Botswana (86) and Kenya (88
).
The region's 16 economies have risen
in the GII rankings.
In addition to Mauritius and Botswana, there have been remarkable improvements
in Ghana (95), Senegal (99), Zimbabwe (107), Ethiopia (117) and Angola (127).

South Africa ranks high in market capitalization, while Botswana has a strong performance on indicators such as MFI lending and IP disbursements
.
Namibia (96) leads the world in education spending, outperforming regional averages in terms of human capital and research
.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the largest number of economies performing well in innovation (8), with Kenya holding a record
for 12 consecutive years.
Rwanda (105) and Mozambique (123) have also consistently performed well
.