Global Innovation Index 2021: Which are the most innovative countries?

The GII 2021 finds that

• Scientific output, expenditures in R&D, intellectual property filings and venture capital (VC) deals continued to grow in 2020, building on strong pre-crisis performance.
• The top global corporate R&D spenders increased their R&D expenditures by around 10 percent in 2020, with 60 percent of these R&D-intensive firms reporting an increase.
• The number of VC deals grew by 5.8 percent in 2020, exceeding the average growth rate of the past 10 years. First quarter figures suggest even more vibrant VC activity in 2021.
• However, the impact of the crisis has been highly uneven across industries, according to the report’s new and novel Global Innovation Tracker.

In its annual ranking of the world’s economies on innovation capacity and output, the GII shows that only a few economies, mostly high income, consistently dominate the ranks.

• Switzerland, Sweden, the United States of America (U.S.), and the United Kingdom (U.K.) continue to lead the innovation ranking.
• The Republic of Korea joins the top 5 of the GII for the first time in 2021.
• China moves up to rank 12, up from 14th last year. It remains the only middle-income economy among the top 30 most innovative economies globally.
• Turkey (41st), Thailand (43rd), Viet Nam (44th), Russia (45th), India (46th), Ukraine (49th) and Montenegro (50th) make it into the GII top 50 this year.
• India, Kenya, the Republic of Moldova, and Viet Nam hold the record for innovation overperformance for 11 years in a row.
• Brazil, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Peru overperform in 2021 for the first time ever.