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Over the past year, our country has climbed two positions in the Global Innovation Index (GII), becoming the 45th among countries with effective innovation ecosystems. Here are the main theses from the GII-2021 report
From human capital to creative performance: how the innovation index is calculated
Over the past five years, the place of our country in the international ranking of innovations has gradually shifted from 45th to 47th. The lowest indicator – 47th place – was in 2020: in terms of innovative efficiency, our country managed to overtake only India, Montenegro and the Philippines. This year, our country returned to the level of 2017, ranking 45 out of 132 countries.
The Global Innovation Index (GII) is a study by the international business school INSEAD, Cornell University and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), aimed at demonstrating the development of innovation, the innovation environment, supporting the innovation ecosystem and the scientific base for creating new technologies in 132 countries around the world. The study is accompanied by a ranking, in which Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and Korea occupy the leading positions in 2021. This year our country took 45th place, overtaking India, Greece, Romania, Ukraine and Montenegro.
The Global Innovation Index is calculated across several sub-indices.
First includes categories related to resources and environment for the development of innovations (Innovation Resources):
- institutions;
- ecosystem infrastructure;
- business and domestic market development;
- human capital;
- research.
Second describes the implementation of innovations (Innovation Outcomes):
- development of technologies and knowledge economy;
- creative activity.
The indicator of our country in the first sub-index this year is one position lower (43rd place) than in 2020, however, in the category of innovation results, the country has risen by six lines, taking 52nd place (in 2020 – 58th) .
Strengths and weaknesses: indicators of our country
According to the study, our country is gradually shifting to higher positions in several elements at once:
- human capital and science (from 30th to 29th place);
- development of technologies and knowledge economy (from 50th to 48th place);
- results of creative activity (from 60th to 56th place);
- institutional development (from 71st to 67th place).
The advantage of our country in the field of innovation is associated with scientific publications, patents and intellectual property rights. First of all, the emphasis can be placed on the presence of highly qualified specialists in the country. our country occupies a consistently high (29th) place in the field of human capital and research in the field of innovation. An indicator of a strong position for the country here is the level of higher education, including the number of university graduates, as well as the place of Russian universities in the QS ranking.
In addition, the country has a relatively high level of business development (44th place) and employment of people from scientific fields. Important indicators of analytics include the situation in our country with the employment of women with scientific degrees (10th place) and the level of assimilation of knowledge, where our country has a strong position in payments for the use of intellectual property (23rd place). The weak link here is the lack of companies offering specialists to be trained within the innovation environment (94th place).
Leonid Gokhberg, First Vice-Rector, Director of the Institute for Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) HSE, Member of the GII International Advisory Board:
“In the new edition of the index, an improvement in the position of our country is recorded, and there is potential for further growth. Taking into account the positive shifts in the innovation activity of enterprises in 2020, the volume of science funding, the development of corporate science in Russian high-tech, and the optimistic business assessments of the prospects for the recovery of innovation activity after the pandemic, we can predict a further strengthening of our country’s position in the GII. The planned significant renewal of the agenda and priorities of scientific, technological and innovation policy will also contribute to the intensification of innovation activity.”
In terms of innovation activity, which is influenced by the development of technologies and the knowledge economy, our country ranked 48th. The strongest positions within the indicator include the number of patent applications for inventions (15th place) and the citation index (23rd place).
Weaknesses are associated with market conditions for the development of innovations and a low level of investment activity on the part of business. According to the level of market development, the researchers put Russia in 61st place, and in terms of investment activity – even 116th. The most vulnerable link is environmental sustainability (101st place) and energy efficiency (117th place).
An important indicator in the formation of the index is the institutional environment. In this case, analysts take into account the development of legislation in the innovation sphere and the degree of regulation of the ecosystem. Based on the ranking, our country occupies the 67th position with an insufficient level of quality in the regulation of innovation processes (100th place) and the rule of law (109th place).