Global Innovation Index 2022 Brings Surprises
The Global Innovation Index 2022 report tracks global innovation trends and evolving challenges. The key difference compared to 2021 is the consolidated position of China, Türkiye and India as global innovation hubs.
Little has changed on the top. Switzerland dominates the No. 1 position for twelve years in a row.
The United States is back to the 2nd position, followed by Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
Two Asian innovation powerhouses (the Republic of Korea (6th) and Singapore) are inches behind.
The biggest surprises are not Germany, Finland and Denmark, but the share rise of China that moves up to 11th place, overtaking France. China is firmly the only middle-income economy within the GII top 30.
This shift isn't unsurprising given a steady increase in R&D investments in China. For the first time, China has the same number of science and technology (S&T) clusters as the United States.
The key Global Innovation Index 2022 takeaways
For the first time, the number of scientific articles published globally surpassed the 2 million mark.
Despite fears of falling investments in global R&D, they grew in 2020 grew at a rate of 3.3 percent. These were coupled with strong growth of government budget allocations for the top R&D spending economies.
Governments invested in mitigating the economic effects of the crisis on the future of innovation.
In 2021, the government spending continued to grow in the Republic of Korea and Germany, unlike Japan and the United States.
Top corporate R&D spenders increased their R&D expenditure by more than 11 percent
in 2020, and by almost 10 percent to over USD 900 billion in 2021.
Four industries propelled this growth: ICT hardware and electrical equipment, Software and ICT services, Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and Construction and industrial metals.
Venture capital (VC) deals grew by 46 percent in 2021, recording levels comparable to the internet boom years of the late 1990s. The Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa regions witnessed the
strongest VC growth, albeit from a low base.
Where are the Western Balkans economies?
All Western Balkan economies fall in the upper middle-income group and perform in line with level of development. Out of the 39 European economies covered, 12 moved up the rankings including Bosnia and Herzegovina (scoring 70th position).
The region's powerhouse is Serbia on the 55th position, followed by Montenegro (60th) and North Macedonia (66th).
Bosnia and Herzegovina scores fourth in the region (overall 70th), while Albania still has to catch up from the 84th position.
Serbia is the only middle-income economy from the Western Balkans that registered growth in total R&D and business R&D in 2020 (1.2 percent).
To put things into perspective China and Türkiye invested the most in the middle-income economy cohort with increases of 4.2 and 5.2 percent, respectively.
In addition, Serbia ranks in top ten upper middle-income economies out of 36 in total. Also, Belgrade ranks in top S&T clusters in extended ranking from economies not covered in top 100 (2022).