India breaks into top-50 in Global Innovation Index; Sets lofty goal after leap from 2015

In a significant landmark, India made its debut in the top 50 countries in the global innovation index, maintaining the top position among the nations in central and southern Asia. Moving up four places to the 48th rank in the Global Innovation Index (GII) list, 2020, this comes as a big achievement for the country as it had ranked at the 81st position back in 2015. 

According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) list 2020, India ranks in the top 15 countries 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.

The official statement added that India had become the third most innovative lower-middle-income economy in the world, which helps bring to light the efforts by the various ministries including the Government's think tank Niti Aayog which has been pioneering policy-led innovations in biotechnology, EVs, space, alternative energy sources amongst others.

"Thanks to universities such as the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, and its top scientific publications, India is the lower-middle-income economy with the highest innovation quality," said the report.

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Global positions 

The Global Innovation Index (GII) list, 2020, is jointly released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD Business School. The overall rankings show stability at the top but a gradual "eastward shift in the locus of innovation" as Asian economies like China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam advance considerably in the innovation ranking over the past few years.

In terms of the world leaders, Switzerland, Sweden, the US, the UK and the Netherlands lead the innovation ranking, the top 10 positions dominated by high-income countries, WIPO said in a statement.

The metrics include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs. A total of 131 countries were analysed under the GII for its 2020 list.

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(With PTI Inputs)