GERMANY took first place in the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index, breaking South Korea’s six-year winning streak, while the US fell one notch to No 9.
Singapore’s leap into the third-place ranking returns it to its post from two years ago.
The annual Bloomberg Innovation Index, in its eighth year, analyses dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies.
The ranking shed light on the ability of economies to innovate, a key theme at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland taking place Jan 21-24.
In the Bloomberg Index, Germany scored three top-five rankings in value-added manufacturing, high-tech density, and patent activity. South Korea lost its crown in part due to a relative slump in productivity, falling to No 29 from last year’s No 18 ranking in that category.
Singapore’s rise to third place overall, from sixth last year, was aided by productivity and value-added manufacturing gains, while it retains a best-in-world ranking for tertiary-education efficiency.
Less rosy
The news is less rosy for the top advanced economies. The US, which was No. 1 when the Bloomberg index debuted in 2013, fell one spot to No 9 since last year’s ranking. Japan dropped to No 12, down three spots for the same-sized decline in last year’s index.
The world’s second-biggest economy, China, edged higher by one spot to No 15. It held onto a second-place ranking on patent activity, and broke into the top five for tertiary efficiency.
Big winners among 2020’s ranked economies were led by Slovenia, which gained 10 spots to No 21 on the back of a 34-tier improvement in patent activity. Chile climbed seven spots to No 51, not losing ground in any category and making particular strides in tertiary efficiency.
Alternatively, the biggest loser in this year’s index was New Zealand, falling five spots to No 29 amid a slide in value-added manufacturing performance.
Four economies entered the Innovation Index for the first time: Algeria – which made an especially strong debut at No 49 – as well as Egypt, Kazakhstan and Macao.
The 2020 ranking process began with more than 200 economies. Each was scored on a 0-100 scale based on seven equally weighted categories. Nations that didn’t report data for at least six categories were eliminated, trimming the total list to 105. -- BLOOMBERG