India has entered the top 40 list of an annual ranking of the world’s economies on innovation capacity and output for the first time. The just released Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022 by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) puts the country among a handful of developing economies that have consistently performed above expectation on innovation relative to their level of economic development for the 12th year in a row.
“India's continuous rise in Global Innovation Index Rankings is due to the progressive initiatives taken by government and industry,” said commerce minister Piyush Goyal.
India leads the central and southern Asia region and the lower middle-income countries group among the 132 countries that figure in WIPO’s annual ranking. It reached the 40th position after making it into the top 50 in 2020. India was in the 46th position in 2021 and 81st in 2015.
Overall, Switzerland, the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are the world’s most-innovative economies.
Among the science and technology (S&T) clusters that find mention in the WIPO index, India has added one more city – Chennai – in addition to existing clusters in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai in the world’s top 100 S&T clusters list for the year. However, like in previous years, in 2022 also, the top 100 S&T clusters are concentrated in three regions – Northern America, Europe and Asia – and in two countries especially: China and the United States.
Beyond the top 100 S&T clusters, India has three more cities - Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad – that stand out in the overall list.
The 2022 list has seen India overtaking Vietnam as the leader of the lower middle-income group. It continues to lead the world in the ICT services exports indicator and holds top rankings in other indicators, including venture capital recipients’ value (6th), finance for startups and scaleups (8th), graduates in science and engineering (11th), labour productivity growth (12th) and domestic industry diversification (14th). India’s innovation performance is above average for the upper-middle-income group in almost every innovation pillar, with the exception of infrastructure, where it scores below average.
The 2022 edition of the GII tracks the most recent global innovation trends against the background of an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, slowing productivity growth and other evolving challenges and reveals the most innovative economies in the world, ranking the innovation performance of around 132 economies, while highlighting innovation strengths and weaknesses.
