An Economist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by Cisco

• Josef Lazar, and others
• Economist Intelligence Unit

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07 May 2009While emerging markets are moving up the global innovation index, Japan and Switzerland remain first and second respectively in the league table. This ranking compares 82 countries by their innovativeness and looks at the factors that bring this about.

China is climbing up the world innovation rankings faster than other countries. Since the Economist Intelligence Unit first published its global innovation index two years ago, China has moved up from 59th to 54th in the ranking -- an improvement we thought would take five years has been achieved in just two. According to the study, A new ranking of the world’s most innovative countries, which was sponsored by Cisco, other gainers include India and Turkey. But while the emerging markets are moving up the pecking order, the developed world still hogs the top spots.

In 2007 the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Cisco, developed an innovation index that ranked 82 countries based on their innovation capacity from 2002 to 2006, and forecast their performance through to 2011. The ranking was part of a broader study, Innovation: Transforming the way business creates, that investigated what makes countries and companies innovative.

In February 2009, the Economist Intelligence Unit updated the innovation index. The new rankings largely confirm the forecasts of the original research, although some countries, including China, rose more quickly than expected. The forecast for 2009-13 has been affected by the severe business downturn and the global economic crisis, which will have a negative impact on countries’ long-term ability to innovate. While developed countries will continue to top the list of innovators in the medium term, poor business conditions will sap their innovation capacity. But China and India are among the countries that will continue to gain ground.

The findings and views expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor.  The research was conducted by Josef Lazar and the analysis by Laza Kekic. The editor was Katherine Dorr Abreu, and Mike Kenny was responsible for the design.