The 2016 Global Innovation Index, has ranked the world’s most innovative economies with Switzerland keeping its title as the world’s most innovative economy.
Produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD, the report assesses the innovation performance of 128 global economies.
This year is notable for China’s breakthrough into the top 25. It marks the first time a middle-income country has taken a place among highly-developed economies in the survey’s 9-year history.
The top 10
The importance of innovation
Innovation remains a key driver of economic growth, as highlighted by both the Global Innovation Index and the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report.
Innovation is one of the 12 pillars of competitiveness in the Forum’s report, and it looks set to play an ever more important role, says Margareta Drzeniek Hanouz, one of the economists behind the report.
“In the future, a country’s socio-economic progress will be increasingly determined by its ability to innovate and adapt quickly to new environments. Scientific and technological research and development, creativity, new business ideas and the ability to implement new business models will also increasingly determine a country’s success.”