The world's most innovative countries

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released its 2021 Global Innovation Index. It evaluated innovation levels across 130 economies focusing on a long list of criteria such as human capital, institutions, technology and creative output as well as market and business sophistication, among others. The 2021 index has found that innovation is still blossoming in some sectors despite the global economic slowdown and coronavirus pandemic, especially in industries to do with public health and the environment.

Switzerland topped the rankings with a score of 65.5 out of 100, the eleventh time it has been named the world leader in innovation. Sweden comes second while the United States rounds off the top three.

One of the biggest winners of the ranking was South Korea, which climbed up from rank 10 in 2020 to rank 5 in 2021. China is now the world's 12th most innovative nation, up from rank 14 in 2020 and 2019 and rank 17 in 2018. China was also named the most innovative upper middle-income country ahead of Bulgaria (overall rank 35), while Vietnam (overall rank 44) came first for lower middle-income countries, followed by India (overall rank 46).