World Innovation Index: Switzerland Tops

UPSC Prelims 2025 Notes

According to a new United Nations report, ‘Innovation is a key development tool that could boost economies and provide a way out of the growing squeeze on the world’s food resources – one of the major challenges of the 21st century’.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released  the 10th edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII): Innovation feeding the World.

Launched by INSEAD in 2007, today the GII is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.

The 2017 edition of the GII draws on the expertise of its Knowledge Partners: the Confederation of Indian Industry, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Strategy & the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (Sebrae), as well as an Advisory Board of eminent international experts.

For the seventh consecutive year, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission audited the GII calculations.

According to this report, rich countries continue to dominate global innovation in terms of most new products and services, with Switzerland at the top for the seventh year running and high-income economies taking 24 of the top 25 spots – China is the exception at 22, moving up three places in the last 12 months.

A total of 17 economies comprise the ‘innovation achievers’ this year, with nine from the Sub-Saharan Africa region and three from Eastern Europe.

Key findings show the rise of India (Rank:60)as an emerging innovation centre in Asia, high innovation performance in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya and Rwanda and an opportunity to improve innovation capacity in Latin America and the Caribbean – with Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina showing particular strengths in institutions, infrastructure and business sophistication.

Next to innovation powerhouses such as China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, a group of Asian economies including Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam – dubbed by WIPO as the “new Asian tigers” – are actively working to improve their innovation ecosystems and rank high in a number of important indicators related to education, productivity growth and high-tech exports, among others.

The theme of the GII 2017, ‘Innovation Feeding the World,’ spotlights innovation carried out in agriculture and food systems. Over the next decades, these sectors will face an enormous rise in global demand and increased competition for limited natural resources, in addition to adapting to climate change.

The report underscores that innovation is key to sustaining the necessary productivity growth to help enhance networks that integrate the sustainable food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management known as food systems.

Global Innovation Index 2017: Rank of Countries

Rank Economy Strength / Weakness Value Score
1 Switzerland Strength – 67.7
2 Sweden Strength – 63.8
3 Netherlands Strength – 63.4
4 United States of America – 61.4
5 United Kingdom – 60.9
6 Denmark Strength – 58.7
7 Singapore – 58.7
8 Finland – 58.5
9 Germany – 58.4
10 Ireland – 58.1
11 Korea, Republic of – 57.7
12 Luxembourg – 56.4
13 Iceland – 55.8
14 Japan – 54.7
15 France – 54.2
16 Hong Kong (China) – 53.9
17 Israel – 53.9
18 Canada – 53.7
19 Norway – 53.1
20 Austria – 53.1
21 New Zealand – 52.9
22 China – 52.5
23 Australia – 51.8
24 Czech Republic – 51
25 Estonia – 50.9
26 Malta – 50.6
27 Belgium – 49.9
28 Spain – 48.8
29 Italy – 47
30 Cyprus – 46.8
31 Portugal – 46.1
32 Slovenia – 45.8
33 Latvia – 44.6
34 Slovakia – 43.4
35 United Arab Emirates – 43.2
36 Bulgaria – 42.8
37 Malaysia – 42.7
38 Poland – 42
39 Hungary – 41.7
40 Lithuania – 41.2
41 Croatia – 39.8
42 Romania – 39.2
43 Turkey – 38.9
44 Greece – 38.8
45 Russian Federation – 38.8
46 Chile – 38.7
47 Viet Nam – 38.3
48 Montenegro – 38.1
49 Qatar – 37.9
50 Ukraine – 37.6
51 Thailand – 37.6
52 Mongolia – 37.1
53 Costa Rica – 37.1
54 Moldova, Republic of – 36.8
55 Saudi Arabia – 36.2
56 Kuwait – 36.1
57 South Africa – 35.8
58 Mexico – 35.8
59 Armenia – 35.7
60 India   – 35.5
61 TFYR Macedonia – 35.4
62 Serbia – 35.3
63 Panama – 35
64 Mauritius – 34.8
65 Colombia – 34.8
66 Bahrain – 34.7
67 Uruguay – 34.5
68 Georgia – 34.4
69 Brazil – 33.1
70 Peru – 32.9
71 Brunei Darussalam – 32.9
72 Morocco – 32.7
73 Philippines – 32.5
74 Tunisia – 32.3
75 Iran, Islamic Republic of – 32.1
76 Argentina – 32
77 Oman – 31.8
78 Kazakhstan – 31.5
79 Dominican Republic – 31.2
80 Kenya – 31
81 Lebanon – 30.6
82 Azerbaijan – 30.6
83 Jordan – 30.5
84 Jamaica – 30.4
85 Paraguay – 30.3
86 Bosnia and Herzegovina – 30.2
87 Indonesia – 30.1
88 Belarus – 30
89 Botswana – 30
90 Sri Lanka – 29.9
91 Trinidad and Tobago – 29.7
92 Ecuador – 29.1
93 Albania – 28.9
94 Tajikistan – 28.2
95 Kyrgyzstan – 28
96 Tanzania, United Republic of – 28
97 Namibia – 27.9
98 Guatemala – 27.9
99 Rwanda – 27.4
100 Senegal – 27.1
101 Cambodia – 27
102 Uganda – 27
103 El Salvador – 26.7
104 Honduras – 26.4
105 Egypt – 26
106 Bolivia, Plurinational State of – 25.6
107 Mozambique – 24.5
108 Algeria – 24.3
109 Nepal – 24.2
110 Ethiopia – 24.2
111 Madagascar – 24.2
112 Cote dIvoire – 24
113 Pakistan – 23.8
114 Bangladesh – 23.7
115 Malawi – 23.5
116 Benin – 23
117 Cameroon – 22.6
118 Mali – 22.5
119 Nigeria – 21.9
120 Burkina Faso Weakness – 21.9
121 Zimbabwe – 21.8
122 Burundi – 21.3
123 Niger – 21.2
124 Zambia Weakness – 20.8
125 Togo Weakness – 18.4
126 Guinea Weakness – 17.4
127 Yemen Weakness – 15.6

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