Global Innovation Index, 2020

India has joined the group of top 50 countries in the global innovation index for the first time. It has moved up four places to the 48th rank and keeping the top position among the nations in central and southern Asia.

Key facts

• A total of 131 countries were analysed under the GII before arriving at the rankings.
• The metrics include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.
• The rankings show stability at the top but a gradual “eastward shift in the locus of innovation”
• Asian economies like China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam have advanced considerably in the innovation ranking over the years.
• Switzerland, Sweden, the US, the UK and the Netherlands lead the innovation ranking, and
• The top 10 positions are dominated by high-income countries

Position of India

• It has become the third most innovative lower middle-income economy in the world
• India ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT (Information and Communication Technology) services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering, and R&D-intensive global companies.
• Rank has improved because of universities such as the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, and other top scientific publications
• India is the lower middle-income economy with the highest innovation quality.

How NITI Aayog contributed?

NITI Aayog has been working tirelessly to ensure optimisation of national efforts in this direction by bringing policy-led in different areas such as electric vehicles, biotechnology, nanotechnology, space and alternative energy sources. The India Innovation Index, which was released by NITI Aayog, came out as a major step in the direction of decentralisation of innovation across all states of the country.

Developing scientific interventions would help India in its mission of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat if India wants compete with global superpowers.

What is GII?

The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It is released jointly by the Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The index was started in 2007.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2020