2017 World’s leading innovative countries
A 463-page report that ranks the world’s most innovative countries in 2017 was published less than two weeks ago, in a project jointly carried out by Cornell University – one of leading (Ivy League) schools in the US; INSEAD, the leading business school in France, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This is the […]
A 463-page report that ranks the world’s most innovative countries in 2017 was published less than two weeks ago, in a project jointly carried out by Cornell University – one of leading (Ivy League) schools in the US; INSEAD, the leading business school in France, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This is the tenth anniversary of this ranking, which is called the Global Innovation Index (GII). It is where you go to find out how your country stacks up against the rest of the world, as judged by some expert researchers at the three institutions mentioned above. The report covers 127 economies around the world and uses 81 indicators.
The most innovative country in the world is Switzerland (1st), followed by Sweden (2nd), Netherlands (3rd), the United States (4th), United Kingdom (5th), Denmark (6th), Singapore (7th), Finland (8th), Germany (9th), and Ireland (10th), in that order. The Republic of Korea is Number 11, Japan (14th), France (15th), Israel (17th), China (22nd), India (60th), South Africa (67th), Kenya (80th), Egypt (105th), Cote d’Ivoire (112th), Benin (116th), Cameroon (117th), Nigeria (119th), and Niger (123rd). Ghana does not show up in the ranking for reasons the authors call “issues with data coverage,” which is a phrase that is not terribly useful.
There are a few surprises in the rankings. With virtually all computers and computer operating systems being developed and/or owned by US companies, not to mention the unmatched superiority of the US in the area of space technology and aviation, you would have thought the country should be ranked the most innovative. To appreciate the rankings, you’ll need to consider all the 81 metrics used. The situation is reminiscent of the ranking of universities in the US by the US News and World Report. As an example, Harvard University is consistently ranked higher than Cornell University – except in Engineering – but a widely held view is that it is infinitely more difficult for an undergraduate student to survive academically at Cornell than at Harvard. In fact, it is also a widely held view that Harvard prefers Cornell undergraduates to their own for admission into Harvard Medical School. Harvard ranks higher for soft metrics such as the location, the perception of its alumni, student/faculty ratio, and so on; rather than on the ability of the students to pass very difficult exams. So with the GII, there are also some relatively extraneous (“soft”) factors, which you can find out by reading the full report – which is available on the web.
Some folks are of the opinion that China should rank higher. Well, the country actually moved up in the ranks relative to its position in the ninth report. The report’s authors note that: “In the top 25, China (which entered that group last year) moves up another three places, becoming the 22nd most innovative economy in the world.” The authors further state that “the GII measures a country’s innovation performance based both on its innovation inputs (such as regulatory environment, education, R&D and infrastructure) and its innovation outputs (such as patents filed and knowledge diffusion).” The fact that China has recently shown the strongest improvements in patent applications, university rankings and gross Research and Devlopment (R&D) expenditure has been used to suggest the country’s move to Number 22. “China also scores strongly in companies doing R&D and research talent.”
In Africa, it’s surprising that Nigeria has done very poorly in the ranking – almost at the bottom of the 127-country ranking, and falling behind countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, and Cameroon. Yet, Nigeria is regarded as the Number One economy in Africa, ahead of South Africa, which has been ranked as the 67th in GII 2017. It is disappointing that the report totally fails to address this issue.
According to the report, “Kenya is the chief innovation achiever in the African region, performing very well in the information and communications technology (ICT) arena.” M-Pesa, which this column in Daily Trust has written extensively about, is referred to in the report as “a firm example of Kenya’s innovation wherewithal, widely hailed as a solution to Africa’s vast unbanked consumer base and informal economy.” M-Pesa combines local achievement with foreign investment, in a concept that originated from a British NGO and the U.K.’s Department for International Development. A student at Moi University in Kenya materialized the concept.
Africa as a whole and Sub Saharan Africa in particular, have received compliments by the authors of the report. “A recurrent finding of the last editions of the GII has been that the innovation momentum in Sub-Saharan Africa must be preserved, while countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are working to meet their innovation potential.” “For several editions, the GII has noted that-relative to its level of economic development-the Sub-Saharan Africa region performs comparatively well on innovation.” Since 2012, Sub-Saharan Africa has had more countries among the group of innovation achievers than any other region. Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, Mozambique, and Malawi stand out for being innovation achievers at least five times in the past six years.