China Moves up in Global Innovation Index for 9th Consecutive Year

China climbs to 12th this year, up two notches from 14th in 2020, riding an upward momentum for the 9th consecutive year, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on September 20. The report speaks highly of China's progress and underscores the weight of government decisions and incentives in inspiring innovation.

Since its debut in 2007, the GII has become one of the most recognized reports on innovation and intellectual property rights (IPRs) for its neutral standing. Detailing 81 indicators in seven categories, namely institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs, the report systematically analyzes two aspects in innovation input and innovation output of 132 economies.

Switzerland tops the list for the 11th consecutive year, followed by Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Korea; China ranks 12th, sitting atop among the middle-income economies and ahead of several developed economies including Japan, Israel, Canada; The Republic of Korea has moved from 10th in 2020 to 5th this year with a clear upward trend; Turkey (41st), Vietnam (44th), India (46th) and other middle-income economies' rankings have soared in the past ten years, helping reshape the global innovation landscape.

In terms of best technology clusters geography-wise, Tokyo-Yokohama (Japan), Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and metro areas of Beijing (China), Seoul (Republic of Korea) and San Jose-San Francisco (the U.S.) are the top 5. Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou (2nd) remained unchanged this year compared to 2020. Beijing (3rd), Shanghai (8th), Nanjing (18th) and Hangzhou (21st) all move up in the rankings markedly.

Source: China IP News