Global Innovation Index 2022: Switzerland, US and Sweden lead global innovation rankings; China nears top ten

According to WIPO's 2022 Global Innovation Index (GII), Switzerland, the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are the most innovative economies in the world, while China is just one step away from the top ten. Other emerging economies also continued to perform consistently strong, including India and Turkey, which entered the top 40 for the first time

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, R&D and other investments driving global innovation activity continued to thrive in 2021, despite challenges in translating innovation investments into impact, the report shows.

Productivity growth PDF, GII 2022 special theme - typically spurred by more innovation - has in fact stagnated, the GII finds. The GII also found that while R&D spending and venture capital investment are on the rise in the near term, there are signs of a slowdown in both technology advancement and adoption. However, with careful support of innovation ecosystems, a new era of innovation-driven growth led by the digital age and waves of deep scientific innovation may take off.

This year's GII found that innovation is at a crossroads as we emerge from the pandemic. While innovation investment surged in 2020 and 2021, global uncertainty, coupled with continued declines in innovation-driven productivity, casts a cloud over the outlook for 2022. That’s why we need to pay more attention not only to investing in innovation, but also to how that investment translates into economic and social impact. Quality and value are as important to success as quantity and scale.

Daren Tang, Director General, WIPO

Key findings of the GII include:

• In 2021, research and development spending by the world's top companies will increase by nearly 10% to more than $900 billion, higher than in 2019 before the pandemic hit. This growth was mainly driven by four industries: ICT hardware and electrical equipment; software and ICT services; pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; and construction and industrial metals.
• Global R&D investment growth was 3.3% in 2020, but slowed from the record high of 6.1% in 2019. Government budget allocations in the economies with the highest R&D spending show strong growth in 2020. Government R&D budgets for 2021 tell a different story: spending increases in the Republic of Korea and Germany, while decreases in the United States and Japan.
• Venture capital deals will surge 46% in 2021, matching the record levels seen during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. Venture capital growth was strongest in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa. Still, the outlook for VC investment in 2022 is more sober; tightening monetary policy and its impact on VC investment will lead to a deceleration in VC investment.

In the annual ranking of world economies' innovation capacity and output, the GII shows some key shifts in the top 15 rankings, with the US climbing to second, the Netherlands taking fifth, Singapore seventh, Germany eighth and China moving up one place to 11th Name, only one step away from the top ten.

Canada rejoins the top 15 global innovators (15th). Turkey (37th) and India (40th) entered the top 40 for the first time. Beyond that, Vietnam (48th), the Islamic Republic of Iran (53rd) and the Philippines (59th) are by far the most improved middle-income economies in innovation performance.

Global rankings

In terms of levels of economic development, some developing economies performed better than expected in terms of innovation, including newcomers Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. The eight innovation high performers are from Sub-Saharan Africa, led by Kenya, Rwanda and Mozambique. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil, Peru and Jamaica performed above development levels.

"Amid the onslaught of global supply chains, improvements in innovation performance in Turkey and India positively enrich the global innovation landscape, while Indonesia shows promising innovation potential," GII co-editor, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford Minister Sumitra Dutta said. "Standers in other regions, such as Chile and Brazil in Latin America, and South Africa and Botswana in sub-Saharan Africa, all improved in terms of relative innovation performance."

Global Innovation Leaders 2022

North America

North America includes the United States and Canada . The United States climbed to second place, while Canada re-entered the top 15 global innovators, rising to 15th.

The U.S. scored the highest globally in 15 of the 81 GII indicators for 2022, including the value of global corporate R&D investors, venture capital investors, quality of universities, quality and impact of scientific publications, and corporate intangible asset density . Canada scored highest for venture capital recipients, joint venture and strategic alliance deals, and computer software spending.

Europe

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

For the 12th year in a row, Switzerland has been ranked first in the world in terms of innovation. It leads the world in innovation output, particularly in patent applications by origin, software spending, high-tech manufacturing and production, and export sophistication. Sweden (3) is a global leader in infrastructure and business sophistication, and tops indicators for researchers, R&D spending and knowledge-intensive employment.

After breaking into the top 10 in 2016, Germany this year achieved its highest ranking since 2009 and leads the world in global corporate R&D investors. Estonia has made significant progress this year, breaking into the top 20 and leading the world in indicators such as venture capital transactions, ICT service imports, new business creation, and mobile application development.

Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania

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

Across the region, Vietnam (48), the Philippines (59), Indonesia (75), Cambodia (97) and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (112) have made the most progress over the past decade. These economies also lead in key innovation indicators. Vietnam leads the world in high-tech imports, while the Philippines leads the world in high-tech exports.

Indonesia made a leap forward this year, taking its best ranking since 2012. It is a global leader in entrepreneurial policy and culture, and has also made significant progress in innovation linkages and intangible assets. It has performed well in indicators such as start-up and large-scale enterprise financing, and corporate intangible asset density.

Central and South Asia

India (40) finished first in the region this year after breaking into the top 50 in 2020. The Islamic Republic of Iran (53) and Uzbekistan (82) follow.

India is an innovation leader in the lower middle-income group. It continues to lead the world in ICT services exports and maintains top rankings for other indicators, including value of venture capital reception, start-up and scale-up financing, science and engineering graduates, labor productivity growth and domestic industry diversification.

The Islamic Republic of Iran occupies third place in the lower middle-income group and, for the second year in a row, outperformed expectations in terms of innovation for its level of development. It leads the world in indicators such as trademark filings and science and engineering graduates.

Uzbekistan moves up 4 places; in 2022, it outperforms development expectations for the first time in terms of innovation.

Sri Lanka (85), Pakistan (87) and Bangladesh (102) improved significantly this year. However, only Pakistan 's ranking has remained stable over time.

North Africa and West Asia

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

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

The United Arab Emirates is moving closer to the top 30, continuing to rank among the top five for the number of corporate researchers and R&D funded by the private sector.

Turkey (37) rounded out the top 40. Its intangible assets rank fourth in the world, and it shows clear advantages in terms of industrial design, trademark application and corporate intangible asset density.

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

Latin America and the Caribbean

Chile (50) – the only Latin American country in the top 50 – tops the region, followed by Brazil (54) – new to the region’s top three – and Mexico (58). Costa Rica (68) dropped out of the top three in the region.

Chile ranks well for tertiary enrolment and new businesses. Brazil has made significant progress in innovation output, especially in intangible assets and creative outputs such as web creativity, trademark applications and mobile application development are also doing well. Mexico leads in indicators such as creative product exports, high-tech imports and exports.

Eight of the 18 economies covered in the region improved their rankings. Colombia (63), Peru (65), Argentina (69) and the Dominican Republic (90) all improved significantly this year. Notably, Peru leads the world this year in indicators such as loan availability to MFIs, science and engineering graduates, and utility model filings. Peru , Brazil and Jamaica (76) also performed above expectations for their level of development in terms of innovation.

sub-saharan africa continent

South Africa (61) topped the region, followed by Botswana (86) and Kenya (88). Sixteen economies in the region moved up the GII rankings. In addition to Mauritius and Botswana , Ghana (95), Senegal (99), Zimbabwe (107), Ethiopia (117) and Angola (127) all made notable improvements.

South Africa tops market capitalization, while Botswana performs well on indicators such as microfinance institution loans and intellectual property payments. Namibia (96) leads the world in education spending and outperforms the regional average in human capital and research.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of economies (eight) that outperform on innovation, with Kenya holding the record for 12 consecutive years. Rwanda (105) and Mozambique (123) have also been doing well.

Burundi (130) returned to the GII this year due to improved data availability, while Mauritania (129) entered the GII for the first time.