Which Economies Are Leading the Charge in Global Innovation?

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ranked the world's 133 economies according to their innovation and performance. This ranking was published in Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024. The ranking was done by giving scores to 78 indicators that tell us how an economy is bringing innovation by seven innovation pillars. They include market sophistication, knowledge & tech outputs, institutions, infrastructure, human capital & research, creative outputs and business sophistication.

According to the rankings, Switzerland scored the highest and got the title of the most innovative country in 2024. Keep in mind that Switzerland has been getting named the most innovative country in the world for 14 consecutive years. Sweden was named the second most innovative country in 2024.

U.S was the third most innovative country according to GII, just like last year. The rankings of the US dropped down a bit because of its low infrastructure score, even though it was number one in market sophistication and number two in business sophistication. Other notable innovative countries in the top ten were Singapore, UK, South Korea, Finland, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.

This year GII’s theme was to focus on the countries which are giving good performances even if their level of development isn't that good. Vietnam, India and Moldova were named as Innovative Outperformers as the economies of these countries have overperformed in the last 14 years.

The GII 2024 rankings also show insights about the effects these global innovations are causing. It talks about technological progress and how green technologies are lagging behind the average growth for more than a decade. It also talked about technological adoption and how it has affected and will affect masses socioeconomically.

Here is the full list:

Country	Innovation Score
Switzerland	67.5
Sweden	64.5
U.S.	62.4
Singapore	61.2
UK	61
South Korea	60.9
Finland	59.4
Netherlands	58.8
Germany	58.1
Denmark	57.1
China	56.3
France	55.4
Japan	54.1
Canada	52.9
Israel	52.7
Estonia	52.3
Austria	50.3
Hong Kong	50.1
Ireland	50
Luxembourg	49.1
Norway	49.1
Iceland	48.5
Australia	48.1
Belgium	47.7
New Zealand	45.9
Italy	45.3
Cyprus	45.1
Spain	44.9
Malta	44.8
Czech Republic	44
Portugal	43.7
UAE	42.8
Malaysia	40.5
Slovenia	40.2
Lithuania	40.1
Hungary	39.6
Türkiye	39
Bulgaria	38.5
India	38.3
Poland	37
Thailand	36.9
Latvia	36.4
Croatia	36.3
Viet Nam	36.2
Greece	36.2
Slovakia	34.3
Saudi Arabia	33.9
Romania	33.4
Qatar	32.9
Brazil	32.7
Chile	32.6
Serbia	32.3
Philippines	31.1
Indonesia	30.6
Mauritius	30.6
Mexico	30.4
Georgia	30.4
North Macedonia	29.9
Russia	29.7
Ukraine	29.5
Colombia	29.2
Uruguay	29.1
Armenia	29
Iran	28.9
Montenegro	28.9
Morocco	28.8
Mongolia	28.7
Moldova	28.7
South Africa	28.3
Costa Rica	28.3
Kuwait	28.1
Bahrain	27.6
Jordan	27.5
Oman	27.1
Peru	26.7
Argentina	26.4
Barbados	26.1
Kazakhstan	25.7
Jamaica	25.7
Bosnia & Herzegovina	25.5
Tunisia	25.4
Panama	24.7
Uzbekistan	24.7
Albania	24.5
Belarus	24.2
Egypt	23.7
Botswana	23.1
Brunei Darussalam	22.8
Sri Lanka	22.6
Cabo Verde	22.3
Pakistan	22
Senegal	22
Paraguay	21.9
Lebanon	21.5
Azerbaijan	21.3
Kenya	21
Dominican Republic	20.8
El Salvador	20.6
Kyrgyzstan	20.4
Bolivia	20.2
Ghana	20
Namibia	20
Cambodia	19.9
Rwanda	19.7
Ecuador	19.3
Bangladesh	19.1
Tajikistan	18.6
Trinidad and Tobago	18.4
Nepal	18.1
Madagascar	17.9
Laos	17.8
Côte d'Ivoire	17.5
Nigeria	17.1
Honduras	16.7
Algeria	16.2
Zambia	15.7
Togo	15.6
Zimbabwe	15.6
Benin	15.4
Tanzania	15.3
Uganda	14.9
Guatemala	14.6
Cameroon	14.4
Nicaragua	14
Myanmar	13.8
Mauritania	13.2
Burundi	13.2
Mozambique	13.1
Burkina Faso	12.8
Ethiopia	12.3
Mali	11.8
Niger	11.2
Angola	10.2

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World