The report shows that China is the only middle-income economy among the top 30. During the epidemic, are global governments and companies still increasing their investment in innovation? On September 20, local time, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the latest “2021 Global Innovation Index Report” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) gave the answer “Yes” to this.
The report shows that Switzerland, Sweden and the United States continue to lead the innovation rankings. Among them, Switzerland ranks first for the 11th consecutive year, and China ranks 12th, ranking first among middle-income economies, surpassing developed economies such as Japan, Israel, and Canada. This is also the 9th consecutive year that China has steadily risen in the Global Innovation Index rankings since 2013.
“This year’s Global Innovation Index (GII) shows us that despite the huge impact of the epidemic on lives and livelihoods, many sectors have shown amazing resilience-especially those that focus on digitalization, technology and innovation.” WIPO General Manager Director Deng Hongsen said that GII is a unique tool that can guide policy makers and the business community to formulate plans to ensure that all parties get rid of the epidemic and become stronger.
North America and Europe continue to lead
The report shows that scientific output, R&D expenditure, intellectual property applications and venture capital transactions in 2020 will continue to grow on the basis of the strong performance before the crisis. It is worth noting that compared with previous recessions, R&D spending has shown greater resilience during the epidemic-related economic recession.
However, the impact of the crisis on all walks of life is very uneven. The report shows that software, Internet and communication technology, hardware and electrical equipment, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have increased their innovation investment and R&D efforts. However, the investment in innovation in the tourism industry that has been curbed by the epidemic is not so satisfactory.
At the same time, the report also shows that the global innovation geography has changed unevenly.. North America and Europe continue to lead the global innovation landscape. The innovation performance of Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania has been the most active in the past decade, and is the only region that has narrowed the gap with the leaders.
Specifically, the report shows that North America, composed of the United States and Canada, is still the most innovative region in the world. The United States remained third in the GII ranking for the third consecutive year, and Canada rose to 16th.
According to the report, the United States is far ahead in key indicators-the number of patent applications by natives, the quality of universities and the influence of scientific publications, and R&D-intensive global companies. Led by the San Jose-San Francisco cluster, the United States also has the world‘s largest number of top technology clusters (24). Canada ranks in the forefront of venture capital transactions as well as joint venture and strategic alliance transactions.
In Europe, 16 of the top 25 leaders in the GII ranking are European countries, and 7 of them are in the top ten.
Switzerland has maintained its leading position in the global innovation field for eleven consecutive years, and has maintained the top three in the innovation ranking together with Sweden (No. 2) for more than a decade. Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom (No. 4) have all ranked in the top five in the past three years.
At the same time, a total of 10 European economies have risen in the rankings this year, of which France (11th) and Estonia (21st) have improved significantly. Finland (No. 7) leads the world in governance.
Some middle-income economies are catching up
It is worth noting that although a small number of countries dominated by high-income economies have always been among the top, but China (12th), Turkey (41st), Vietnam (44th), India (46th), etc. Some middle-income economies are catching up and changing the innovation landscape.
Specifically, as mentioned earlier, the top three are Switzerland, Sweden and the United States. South Korea has moved from 10th in 2020 to 5th in 2021, with a clear upward momentum. Other Asian economies that have entered the top 15 are Singapore (8th), China (12th) and Japan (13th). Wait.China is the only middle-income economy in the top 30.
Previously, Bruno Lanvin, executive director of the Global Index of the European Institute of Business Administration, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that the gradual eastward shift of innovation is highly correlated with the eastward shift of the global economy: first, in recent years, the center of gravity of the world economy has become Moving to Asia, economic growth has always come from Asia; second, this change itself is also the result of policy: Asian governments choose development as their national priority, and as a competitive economy, innovation is the driving force; first Third, these countries regard education as a priority and cultivate technical talents. This kind of investment in human capital can also greatly improve innovation capabilities.
He also said that in the process of writing the GII for many years, all parties found that the most successful countries in terms of innovation are open. For example, many of the economies at the forefront of the GII list are Scandinavian countries. They are small, so they must also be open: without international cooperation and investment, these countries cannot survive. So openness and pressure are crucial to innovation.
R&D spending continues to grow
Before the epidemic, global investment in innovation had reached its highest peak in history, with an increase of 5% in 2019. In 2020, R&D investment will continue to grow.
The report shows that companies with the highest R&D expenditures in the world will increase their R&D expenditures by about 10% in 2020, and 60% of R&D-intensive companies have reported an increase in R&D expenditures.
At the same time, in 2020, the volume of venture capital transactions increased by 8%, exceeding the average growth rate of the past 10 years. The strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region not only made up for but also exceeded the decline in North America and Europe. Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean also experienced double-digit growth. The data for the first quarter of 2021 show that venture capital activities will be more active in 2021.
“In the main research conclusions of the GII in 2021, the changes in the top economies are very significant. In addition to South Korea’s amazing jump, France and China have continued the progress made last year, and both are currently expected to be among the top ten in GII. These three examples emphasize the continuing importance of government policies and incentives to promote innovation.” Lang Wan believes that, in general, the epidemic has not interrupted the established trend from 2019 to 2020, because for innovative companies, financing ( Public and private) continue to remain relatively adequate, even if the company is outside the health and biological sciences.
The 2021 GII is the fourteenth edition and is released every year. Its core is to provide indicators to measure performance and rank the innovation ecosystems of 132 economies, calculated as the average of the two sub-indices. Among them, the innovation input sub-index measures the economic factors that support and promote innovation activities. These factors are divided into five categories: system, human capital and research, infrastructure, market maturity, and business maturity. The sub-index of innovation output reflects the actual results of innovation activities in the economy, and is divided into two categories: knowledge and technological output and creative output.
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