India ranks in top 50 in the Global Innovation Index for the first time

NEW DELHI: The recently released Global Innovation Index (GII) has brought India to the list of top 50 countries for the first time. Moving up four places to the 48^th rank, India remained at the top position amongst central and south Asian nations. The GII list was released jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD Business School on Wednesday, September 2. According to the list, while the top positions have remained stable, the overall rankings show a gradual ‘eastward shift in the locus of innovation’ as Asian economies like China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam have moved up considerably over the years. 

WIPO said in a statement that Switzerland, Sweden, Unites States of America, United Kingdom and the Netherlands lead the innovation ranking and the top 10 positions are dominated by high-income countries. Regarding India, the statement said that it has become the third most innovative lower middle-income economy in the world, thanks to the newly available indicators and improvements in various areas of the GII. India ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT (Information and Communication Technology) services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering, and R&D-intensive global companies.

“Thanks to universities such as the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, and its top scientific publications, India is the lower middle-income economy with the highest innovation quality,” the statement said.

The GII analysed a total of 131 countries before releasing the rankings. The metrics include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market and business sophistication, knowledge and technology and creative outputs.