The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has
released the Global Innovation Index 2011 (GII), in which Vietnam claims 20
grades to rank 51st.

This year’s rankings show that innovation has become a global phenomenon with
six European economies (including Finland 5th, Denmark 6th, the Netherlands 9th
and the United Kingdom 10th), two Asian (including Hong Kong, SAR, China 4th)
and two North American economies (the United States 7th and Canada 8th) in the
top 10.

In Southeast Asia, the ranking is as follow: Malaysia (31), Thailand (48),
Vietnam (51), Brunei (75), the Philippines (91), Indonesia (99) and Cambodia
(111).

The five Nordic economies—Sweden (2nd), Finland (5th), Denmark (6th), Iceland
(11th), and Norway (18th)—have very strong performances globally as well as
regionally. Within the European Union (EU), the Netherlands and the UK are in
the top 10, followed by Germany (12th), Ireland (13th), Luxembourg (17th), and
Austria (19th) in the top 20.

The GII includes 16 economies from the Middle East and North Africa, of which
two—Israel (14th) and Qatar (26th)—are ranked among the top 30; both high-income
economies. Among Sub-Saharan African economies, Mauritius (53rd overall)
achieves the top regional spot while South Africa (59th) is the runner-up. Ghana
comes next at position 70, and ranked first among economies classified as
low-income, all regions combined.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile comes first (ranked 38th), followed by
Costa Rica (45th) and Brazil (47th) among the top 50.

Of the four economies from South Asia in the GII, India is ranked 62nd overall,
followed by Sri Lanka (82nd), Bangladesh (97th), and Pakistan (105th). From East
Asia and the Pacific, besides the leading positions of Singapore (3rd) and Hong
Kong (SAR, China, 4th), five more are in the top 30: New Zealand (15th), the
Republic of Korea (16th), Japan (20th), Australia (21st), and China (29th), the
top-ranked emerging economy.

The Global Innovation Index is computed as an average of the scores across
inputs pillars (describing the enabling environment for innovation) and output
pillars (measuring actual achievements in innovation). Five pillars constitute
the Innovation Input Sub-Index: ’Institutions,’ ’Human capital and research,’
’Infrastructure’, ’Market sophistication’ and ’Business sophistication’. The
Innovation Output Sub-Index is composed of two pillars: ’Scientific outputs’ and
’Creative outputs’. The Innovation Efficiency Index, calculated as the ratio of
the two Sub-Indices, examines how economies leverage their enabling environments
to stimulate innovation results.

The top 10 economies in the Innovation Efficiency Index are Côte d’Ivoire,
Nigeria, China, Pakistan, Moldova, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, India, and
Bangladesh. Three BRIC economies (Brazil, India, and China) are in this select
list, with the fourth, the Russian Federation, coming in at 52nd place. By
region, the best performers are Côte d’Ivoire (1st), China (3rd), Pakistan
(4th), Moldova (5th), Brazil (7th), Jordan (16th), and the US (26th). By income
group, in descending order of income, leaders are Sweden (6th), Brazil (7th),
Côte d’Ivoire (1st), and Bangladesh (10th).

The GII covers 125 economies in the world.

WIPO Director General, Francis Gurry stressed that ‘Innovation is central to
economic growth and to the creation of new and better jobs. It is the key to
competitiveness for economies, for industries and for individual firms.’ He
added that ‘innovation and its many benefits do not come without the investment
of time, effort and human and financial resources,’ noting that this report
captures efforts by a large number of economies to provide an enabling
environment that promotes innovation.

PV