Here’s a concise summary of the key takeaways from the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023:
1. **Global Innovation Trends**:
– The GII 2023 reflects a backdrop of uncertainty, slow economic recovery from COVID-19, high interest rates, and geopolitical conflict, but remains optimistic about the rise of Digital Age, Deep Science, and technological advancements.
2. **Global Innovation Tracker 2023**:
– Mixed results for innovation investments in 2022 with a more uncertain outlook for 2023 and 2024.
– Scientific publications grew by 1.5% in 2022, global R&D increased by 5.2% in 2021, and corporate R&D reached a historic high of USD 1.1 trillion in 2022.
– Venture capital (VC) investments declined sharply in 2022, but the number of VC deals grew by 17.6%. Asia Pacific matches Northern America in deal activity.
– International patent filings barely grew in 2022.
3. **Technological Progress**:
– Continued technological advancement in IT, health, and energy sectors.
– Decreasing costs for genome sequencing and renewable energy technologies, but rising costs for electric batteries.
– General increase in technology adoption; however, the socioeconomic impact of innovation remains low, and CO2 emissions continue to rise.
4. **GII 2023 Rankings**:
– Leaders: Switzerland (1st), Sweden (2nd), USA (3rd), UK (4th), Singapore (5th).
– Notable middle-income economies: China (12th), India (40th), Indonesia (61st).
– Economies with significant rank improvements in the last decade: Indonesia, China, Türkiye, India, Viet Nam, the Philippines, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
5. **Innovation Indicators**:
– The USA, Singapore, and Israel excel in numerous GII innovation indicators.
– Certain middle- and low-income economies stand out in specific areas.
6. **Regional Leaders**:
– Leaders in different regions include Switzerland (Europe), the USA (North America), Brazil (Latin America), India (Central and Southern Asia), Singapore (South East Asia, East Asia, Oceania), Israel (Northern Africa and Western Asia), and Mauritius (Sub-Saharan Africa).
7. **Developing Economies & Innovation**:
– 21 economies, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia, outperform their innovation expectations based on their economic development.
– India, the Republic of Moldova, and Vietnam have been consistent innovation overperformers for 13 consecutive years.
8. **Global Science & Technology (S&T) Cluster Ranking**:
– Top clusters: Tokyo–Yokohama (Japan) leads, with Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China) and Seoul (Republic of Korea) following.
– S&T intensity: Cambridge (UK) and San Jose–San Francisco, CA (USA) stand out.
– China has the highest number of top clusters (24), followed by the USA (21) and Germany.
GII Innovation Indicators – 2023 Summary
- United States: Leads globally with top rankings in 13 out of 80 innovation indicators.
- Singapore: Holds 2nd place globally, leading in 11 indicators, maintaining the same count as 2022. Notably, Singapore excels in areas like Operational stability for businesses, Government effectiveness, and ICT access among others.
- Israel: Stands 3rd, leading in nine areas, including R&D expenditure, University–industry R&D collaboration, and PCT patents.
- Switzerland & Hong Kong, China: Jointly rank 4th. Switzerland is top in Patent families, and Hong Kong leads in High-tech imports.
- Japan: Occupies the 6th spot, recognized for Production and export complexity.
- Middle- & Low-Income Economy Standouts:
- Namibia: Tops in Expenditure on education.
- Mozambique: Leads in Gross capital formation.
- Cambodia & Nepal: Excel in Loans from microfinance institutions.
- Mauritius: Global leader in Venture capital investors.
- Islamic Republic of Iran & Mongolia: Both stand out in Trademarks, with Mongolia also shining in Industrial designs.
This provides a brief overview of the key nations and their standings based on the GII innovation indicators for 2023.
Using the Global Innovation Index (GII) Properly: Do’s and Don’ts
**Why use GII**:
– Governments use the GII to boost innovation.
– 70% of WIPO’s members used GII in 2022 to improve their innovation strategies.
– Countries of all sizes and wealth use the GII.
**Benefits**:
– The GII helps make and check innovation policies based on clear evidence.
– It helps countries see how good they are at innovating.
– It gets different groups talking about innovation.
**Do’s**:
1. Make innovation a top goal for the country.
2. Have a group of leaders manage innovation, reporting to top officials like the Prime Minister.
3. Get advice from many innovation experts from both the public and private sectors.
4. Make sure the country’s invention rules go hand-in-hand with innovation goals.
5. Make sure you can measure and check the results of innovation plans.
**Don’ts**:
1. Don’t aim too high with GII rankings. They change slowly.
2. Changing policies won’t give instant results in GII scores.
3. Don’t just use the GII to boost rankings. It’s more than just numbers.
4. Don’t only focus on yearly changes in the GII. They can be influenced by many things.
**Other Info**:
– The GII encourages countries to track innovation.
– WIPO doesn’t collect all the data for GII. They use data given by countries to global groups.
– WIPO helps countries find and fix missing or old data.
– Some countries want to track innovation in smaller areas, like cities, using the GII.
– WIPO supports this by organizing workshops and offering studies.
Summary
The Global Innovation Index 2023 highlights countries that are overperforming or underperforming in innovation based on their economic status:
**Innovation Overperformers:**
1. **Total:** There are 21 countries exceeding expectations in innovation for their level of economic development.
2. **Consistent Performers:** India, the Republic of Moldova, and Viet Nam have been overperformers for 13 straight years.
3. **Maintaining Status:** The Philippines and Morocco continue their overperformance streak for the fifth time.
4. **Comebacks:** Senegal and North Macedonia re-enter as overperformers this year.
5. **Regions:** Both South East Asia, East Asia, Oceania, and Sub-Saharan Africa boast five overperforming countries each.
**Innovation Underperformers:**
1. **Total:** 37 countries are not meeting innovation expectations based on their economic stature.
2. **Regions Affected:** The majority are from Latin America and the Caribbean (11 countries) and Sub-Saharan Africa (9 countries).
3. **Economies Moving Up:** Seven economies, including Lithuania and Greece, have improved from underperforming to matching expectations.
Efficiency in Innovation (Converting Inputs to Outputs)
1. **High-Income Leaders:** Switzerland leads in generating outputs from inputs, with other efficient countries being Sweden, the US, and Finland.
2. **Middle-Income Stars:** China stands out, producing outputs similar to high-income nations but with fewer resources.
3. **Efficient Lower-Income Innovators:** Countries like Morocco, Pakistan, and Madagascar are notable for efficiently translating inputs into innovation outputs.
4. **Strugglers:** Several countries, like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, find it challenging to convert their innovation inputs into tangible results.
5. **Improvers:** Canada, Norway, and Uzbekistan have enhanced their efficiency in translating inputs into outputs this year.
In essence, while some countries excel in driving innovation from their resources, others still face challenges in optimizing their innovation potential.
Who Tops the Unicorn Charts?
– **What’s a Unicorn?**
– It’s a startup company worth more than $1 billion. They’re special because they grow quickly and bring fresh, new ideas to the business world.
– **GII’s New Indicator**:
– The 2023 GII has added a measure that shows the total value of unicorns in a country compared to its GDP.
– **Current Unicorn Stats**:
– As of April 2023, 1,206 unicorns exist in 50 countries.
– 80% of these unicorns are in just five countries: the USA (54%), China (14%), India (6%), the UK (4%), and Germany (2%).
– US unicorns have a combined value of $2 trillion, followed by China ($736 billion) and India ($193 billion).
– **Most Valuable Unicorns**:
– China’s ByteDance (AI) is the most valuable, followed by US’s SpaceX (space and telecoms) and Stripe (fintech).
– Other top unicorns include Australia’s Canva (graphic design) and Indonesia’s J&T Express (logistics).
– **Unicorns Compared to GDP**:
– When looking at unicorn value relative to GDP, the USA, Estonia, Israel, Lithuania, and Senegal are top performers.
– Estonia shines with Bolt, Israel with Wiz, Lithuania with Vinted, and Senegal with Wave.
– **Level of Development vs. Unicorn Value**:
– A graph plots a country’s wealth against its total unicorn value to see if countries are doing well compared to their wealth.
– High-income countries typically have many unicorns, but some like China, India, and Brazil are middle-income and still have many unicorns.
– **Interesting Note**:
– Several Latin American countries, though not as wealthy, host significant unicorns. Examples include Mexico’s Kavak and Colombia’s Rappi.
This is a simpler breakdown of which countries are leading in the unicorn space and how their economic status relates to their unicorn count and value.
Worldwide Innovation Overview
– **General Trends**:
– America and Europe are the best at coming up with new ideas and products. But places like South East Asia are catching up fast. Central and Southern Asia are also trying to match Latin America’s innovation levels.
– **Northern America**:
– The U.S. is a big leader here. Canada is good at getting money for new ideas and producing important scientific work.
– **Europe**:
– Europe has many countries that are great at innovating. France, Belgium, and Serbia are doing especially well this year.
– **South East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania**:
– These places are coming close to Europe’s innovation level. China, Japan, and Korea are doing really well. Indonesia is also stepping up.
– **Central and Southern Asia**:
– India is the top innovator here. Iran and Kazakhstan are also doing well.
– **Northern Africa and Western Asia**:
– Israel is the star in this region. Saudi Arabia and Oman are also improving.
– **Latin America and the Caribbean**:
– Brazil is the main leader. They have many successful new companies worth a lot of money.
– **Sub-Saharan Africa**:
– Mauritius and South Africa are the top innovators. Mauritius is good at getting funding, and South Africa is strong in technology.
In short, while America and Europe are still at the top, other places like South East Asia are quickly catching up in coming up with new ideas and products.
Innovation’s Role in Achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations has a big plan for 2030. They have set 17 goals called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that they want the world to achieve. One important part of this plan is innovation. Innovation means coming up with new ideas, technologies, or methods.
There’s a specific goal, SDG 9, which talks about innovation. It wants countries to spend more money on research and development (R&D) and to have more researchers working. These are also things that the Global Innovation Index (GII) looks at.
In fact, the UN has said that the GII is a good way to see how well countries are doing with innovation. The UN had a big meeting in May 2023 to talk about how innovation can help the world recover after the pandemic.
Also, in September 2023, the UN is going to have another big meeting to see how far we’ve come with the 2030 goals and to make sure everyone is working hard to achieve them by 2030.
Conclusion
The Global Innovation Index (GII) report for this year offers several important observations:
1. **Changing Landscape:** The way countries are innovating is changing, especially due to the pandemic, global shifts, and recovery processes. This might mean that some country rankings might change temporarily, not permanently.
2. **Top 20 Changes:** Countries like Sweden, Singapore, and Israel, among others, have moved up in rankings. Particularly, Nordic and Baltic countries have shown strong innovation performances.
3. **Mixed Results for Emerging Economies:** While countries like Indonesia and the Philippines have progressed, others like China have slightly fallen back. This could be partly because of the pandemic’s effects.
4. **Consistent Overperformers:** India, the Republic of Moldova, and VietNam have consistently done better in innovation compared to their development levels. Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan have also maintained this status from last year.
5. **Middle East Progress:** Countries in the Middle East, like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are climbing up the innovation ranks.
6. **Leaders in Africa:** Mauritius and South Africa are leading in terms of innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
7. **Need for Improvement:** Many middle- and low-income countries still need to work more systematically to improve their innovation ecosystems.
8. **Challenges Ahead:** The global challenges like the pandemic’s effects, economic pressures, and global supply chain disruptions make it crucial to keep a close eye on how innovation systems are developing, especially in developing countries. This is important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN.
9. **GII’s Future Role:** The GII will keep tracking these changes to understand the long-term and short-term shifts in innovation across countries and regions.