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Which countries innovate the most?

Updated: Dec 25, 2021



​Knowledge proceeds from the comparison of clear and distinct ideas. "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (1690), John Locke When we want to form a correct idea about a fact, one of the best tools we have at our disposal is comparison. To give a more concrete form to that comparison, we need to measure. And if we want that comparison to be as objective as possible, standardised measures come to our aid. Thanks to them, we will be able to better answer the question: who innovates more, and faster?

Two traditional measures when considering innovation by country are the number of patents and investment in research and development as a percentage of GDP (unesco.org). As a first approximation, we will look at the ranking according to the percentage of R&D expenditure/GDP which is currently, according to UNESCO data: 1. South Korea 4.1% 2. Japan 3.4% 3. Switzerland 3.2% 4. Austria 3.1% 5. Finland 3.1% 6. Sweden 3.1% 7. Denmark 2.9% 8. Germany 2.9% 9. United States 2.7% 10. Slovenia 2.4%. Although it does not appear in these top positions, it is noteworthy that China, in 2019, overtook the United States as the leading country applying for patents at WIPO. More sophisticated is the innovation ranking of countries that the World Economic Forum (weforum.org) has recently developed, integrating seven variables. With the support of various institutions and business schools, it publishes an innovation report that considers the level of development of each country.

“The overall GII score is the average of the scores of the Input and Output Sub-Indices. The Innovation Input Sub-Index is comprised of five pillars that capture elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities: 1) Institutions, 2) Human capital and research, 3) Infrastructure, 4) Market sophistication, and 5) Business sophistication. The Innovation Output Sub-Index provides information about outputs that are the result of the innovative activities of economies. There are two output pillars: 6) Knowledge and technology outputs and 7) Creative outputs”. In this ranking, some countries stand out in the "above" expected category. Interestingly, this comparison is broken down by looking at the World Bank's income levels in the 2000 report: High income level

  1. Switzerland

  2. Sweden

  3. United States

  4. United Kingdom

  5. The Netherlands

Upper middle income

  1. China

  2. Armenia

  3. South Africa

  4. Georgia

  5. North Macedonia

Lower median income

  1. Vietnam

  2. Ukraine

  3. India

  4. Philippines

  5. Republic of Moldova

Low income level

  1. Malawi

  2. Rwanda

  3. Tanzania

  4. Niger

  5. Madagascar

Integrated ranking (absolute)

  1. Switzerland

  2. Sweden

  3. United States of America

  4. United Kingdom

  5. The Netherlands

  6. Denmark

  7. Finland

  8. Singapore

  9. Germany

  10. South Korea

As might be expected, the countries at the top of the absolute rankings belong to those with the highest economic development. But the great novelty here is to compare innovation by homogeneous groups. This provides a greater stimulus to emulation among the members of the group, and breaks the feeling of "impotence" that can be generated in a country by always being at the bottom of the world ranking. Here, too, there is room for innovation, as the WEF has done. Stimulating confidence and helping countries to plan achievable and realistic goals that will, little by little, set in motion the spirit of improvement. Sources: http://uis.unesco.org/apps/visualisations/research-and-development-spending/ Accessed: May 3, 2021. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/these-are-the-worlds-most-innovative-economies/ . Accessed: May 3, 2021. https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_gii_2020.pdf Accessed: May 3, 2021. https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/es/articles/2020/article_0005.html Accessed: May 3, 2021. Dr. Harry Costin


 
 
 

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