Global Innovation Index 2021

Tracking Innovation through the COVID-19 Crisis

The 2021 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) presents the latest global innovation ranking of 132 economies, relying on 81 different indicators. While tracking the most recent global innovation trends in the new Global Innovation Tracker, this edition also focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on innovation.

The GII's overall formula for measuring an economy's innovative capacity and output provides clarity for decision makers in government, business and elsewhere as they look forward to creating policies that enable their people to invent and create more efficiently.

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The GII Launch Event

Monday September 20, 2021

Watch the launch speeches held by the President of Colombia , the Prime Minister of Cabo Verde , the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand , as well as by Ministers of China , the Republic of Korea , Switzerland , Turkey and the United Arab Emirates .

Videos are available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

Which are the most innovative economies in 2021?

The world’s most-innovative economy in 2021 is Switzerland followed by Sweden, the United States of America (U.S.), the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Republic of Korea, according to the GII 2021 rankings.

How does your location rank in terms of innovation?

Find out more about the GII 2021 rankings

top ten innovative economics gii 2021 ranking

Ranking of the 10 most innovative economies in 2021

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Tracking Innovation through the COVID-19 Crisis

In spite of the human and economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and enterprises in many parts of the world have increased their investments in innovation. Scientific output, expenditures in research and development (R&D), intellectual property filings and venture capital (VC) deals continued to grow in 2021, building on strong pre-crisis peak performance.

The Global Innovation Tracker is a new feature of the Global Innovation Index 2021 that captures key innovation trends. It uses a set of indicators identified in the three stages of the innovation journey:

«As the world looks to rebuild from the pandemic, we know that innovation is integral to overcoming the common challenges that we face and to constructing a better future. The Global Innovation Index is a unique tool to guide policy-makers and businesses in charting plans to ensure that we emerge stronger from the pandemic.»

Daren Tang, Director General, WIPO

Science and innovations investments

Technological progress

Socioeconomic impact

Find out more about the Global Innovation Tracker

About the Global Innovation Index

Since its inception in 2007 as a magazine article, the GII has evolved into an instrument that has shaped the innovation measurement and policy agenda becoming a cornerstone of economic policymaking. Published annually, the core of the GII provides performance measures and ranks close to 140 economies on their innovation ecosystems. In addition, the GII identifies the world’s top 100 science and technology clusters, tracks global innovation trends with the GII Global Innovation Tracker and takes up a “special innovation theme” every two years.

It is recognized by the UN General Assembly as an authoritative reference to design Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies.

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