For the fourth year in a row, Switzerland has been selected the most innovative country in the world, according to the latest edition of the Global Innovation Index. The annual report is published by the Cornell University, the World Intellectual Property Organization and INSEAD business school. UAE ranks 36th.
Assessing a total of 81 indicators, the latest ranking looks at 143 economies around the world. Some of the factors include information and communication technologies; business sophistication such as knowledge workers, innovation linkages and knowledge absorption; and innovation outputs such as creative goods and services and online creativity. All these indicators are analyzed in order to rank countries’ main pillars of innovation – institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.
After determining the innovation capacity, competitiveness, and the strength of the national innovation ecosystems, the researchers found Switzerland is the most innovative country in the world. This is the fourth time the nation we know for chocolate and watches tops the list. It is followed by the United Kingdom, while Sweden comes third. Overall, the economies in the top 10 and even in the top 25 are basically the same each year. But there’s a positive tendency for emerging economies to encourage talent and foster innovation.
Here are the top 10 most innovative countries in the world in 2014:
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- Sweden
- Finland
- Netherlands
- United States of America
- Singapore
- Denmark
- Luxembourg
- Hong Kong
The best-performing economy in the Middle East is Israel, which ranks 15th in the list, followed by Cyprus (No.30) and the United Arab Emirates (No.36). While major improvements have been made across each element of the innovation ecosystem in the UAE, there are some gaps that still need to be addressed. These include, according to the study authors, the limited talent in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), the restricted R&D budgets (research and development) in the private sector, the environmental sustainability, and the increased prevalence of health issues.
