Country climbs seven notches in innovation efficiency; stands second
India witnessed a drop in the global innovation index (GII) ranking of this year to 64th position from 62nd last year. It stood lowest among the BRICS nations in the 2012 index.
However, the country improved its position in innovation efficiency from 9th position to second—just behind China. This index exhibits countries that are innovating despite a weaker innovation environment.
As for GII, Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa are ranked at 58th, 51st, 34th and 54th positions respectively. At the same time, these countries were ranked at 38th, 43rd, 1st and 116th positions in terms of innovation efficiency.
Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore secured the top three places in the GII rankings.
The Global Innovation Index 2012 was released on Tuesday by France-based international business school INSEAD and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, along with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
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The Index ranks 141 countries/economies on the basis of their innovation capabilities and results.
The report notes a need for the BRIC countries to invest further in their innovation capabilities to live up to their expected potential.
China’s performance on the key knowledge and technology outputs pillar is outpaced only by Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, and Finland.
However, the report notes that both China and India have weaknesses in their innovation infrastructure and environment. The report also notes that Brazil has suffered the largest drop among the BRICs.
“Every country can aspire to be an innovation-driven economy,” said CII director-general Chandrajit Banerjee. “The more resource-constrained an economy is, the more prone to innovation it actually can be. Importantly, innovation is about acts which improve everyday lives and a journey towards faster-sustainable-inclusive-growth.”
The study shows that the dynamics of innovation continue to be affected by the emergence of new successful innovators. It can be seen by the range of countries across continents in the top 20 GII ranking, as well as the good performances of certain emerging countries. They include Latvia, Malaysia, China, Montenegro, Serbia, Republic of Moldova, Jordan, Ukraine, India, Mongolia, Armenia, Georgia, Namibia, Viet Nam, Swaziland, Paraguay, Ghana and Senegal, besides low-income countries of Kenya and Zimbabwe.
“The downward pressure on investment in innovation exerted by the current crisis must be resisted,” WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said. “Otherwise we risk durable damage to countries’ productive capacities. This is the time for forward-looking policies to lay the foundations for future prosperity.”