China on the rise as US slips in top 20 list

CHINA joined the world’s top 20 most innovative economies for the first time while the US fell out of the five top-ranked countries, according to a report released on Tuesday by one of its co-sponsors, the UN intellectual property agency.

The Global Innovation Index 2018 keeps Switzerland in the number one spot, followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and Singapore. The US fell from fourth place last year to sixth this year, while China jumped from 22nd to 17th in the rankings.

Francis Gurry, director-general of the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation, said China’s ranking represents a breakthrough for its economy, which is rapidly transforming and prioritising research and ingenuity.

“China’s rapid rise reflects a strategic direction set from the top leadership to developing world-class capacity in innovation and to moving the structural basis of the economy to more knowledge-intensive industries that rely on innovation to maintain competitive advantage,” Gurry said. “It heralds the arrival of multipolar innovation.”

Prowess

Now in its 11th edition, the index ranks 126 economies based on 80 indicators ranging from the creation of mobile applications to education spending, scientific and technical publications, and intellectual property filing rates.

The index is sponsored by the WIPO, Cornell University SC Johnson College of Business and INSEAD, the graduate school of business with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

The report said “China’s innovation prowess becomes evident in various areas”, with some of its greatest improvements in global research and development companies, hitech imports, the quality of its publications and enrolment in graduate education.

“In absolute values, and in areas such as R&D expenditures and the number of researchers, patents and publications, China is now first or second in the world, with volumes that overshadow most high-income economies.”

The report said China’s rapid rise has been spectacular and shows the way for other middle-income economies, though only Malaysia, 35th in the rankings, continues to edge closer to the top 25.

According to the index, 20 middle and lower-income economies that performed “significantly better” than their level of development would predict made this year’s list of “innovation achievers”, including three for the first time, South Africa, Tunisia and Colombia. Six of them come from sub-Sahara Africa, the most for any region. In addition to South Africa, they are Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar. – AP