Which Countries Are Best at Innovation?

Here is a report drawn up by the IMF, OECD and the UN to rank international innovation competitiveness. The authors constructed an Innovation Capacity Index (ICI) that draws on a range of available data to correlate the wide-ranging set of relevant factors, policies, and institutional characteristics which play a central role in boosting a nation's capacity for innovation. In its 2010/11 edition, the ICI covers 131 countries and identifies over 60 factors that are seen to have a bearing on a country's ability to create an environment that encourages innovation, such as a nation's institutional environment, human capital endowment, the presence of social inclusion, the regulatory and legal framework, the infrastructure for research and development, and the adoption and use of information and communication technologies, among others.

The top 25 countries with their ICI scores are:

1. Sweden 80.3

2. Switzerland 78.1

3, Singapore 76.7

4. Finland 76.1

5. United States 74.8

6. Denmark 74.3

7. Canada 73.6

8. Netherlands 72.8

9. Taiwan 72.5

10. Luxembourg 72.2

11. South Korea 72.1

12. Norway 72.0

13. Hong Kong 71.4

14. New Zealand 71.3

15. United Kingdom 71.3

16. Japan 70.2

17. Australia 69.4

18. Ireland 69.1

19. Iceland 69.0

20. Germany 68.9

21. Israel 67.5

22. Austria 66.7

23. Belgium 66.1

24. France 65.3

25. Estonia 60.5

And the bottom three are:

129. Haiti 28.3

130. Chad 27.4

131. Afghanistan 27.4

It is notable that China does not do well - it comes in at number 64 with a score of 49.9.

The Executive Summary contains many interesting insights.

Paul Sloane writes and speaks on innovation. He is the author of The Innovative Leader.

http://www.destination-innovation.com