NEW DELHI: India has slipped to 81st position in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2015 report, a decline by five positions as compared to last year, but maintained its numero uno rank in Central and South Asian region.
Switzerland topped the GII followed by the United Kingdom and Sweden securing number two and three positions respectively. The United States of America bagged fifth position while Singapore is the only Asian country to have figured in the top 10 list of the report.
The GII, co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), surveyed 141 economies around the world, using 79 indicators to gauge both innovative capabilities and measurable results.
In terms of innovation quality – as measured by university performance, the reach of scholarly articles and the international dimension of patent applications – a few economies stand out.
"The US and the UK stay ahead of the pack, largely as a result of their world-class universities, closely followed by Japan, Germany and Switzerland," the report states.
It further adds that top-scoring middle-income economies on innovation quality are China, Brazil and India, with China increasingly outpacing the others.
Last year, India was ranked 76th in the GII while in 2013 it secured 66th. In 2012 it was 64th and 62nd in 2011. However, in Central and South Asia, India has performed fairly well as compared to other countries in the regional group. In (CSA), Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka have secured second and third positions respectively.
"The GII underlines the steady out performance of India on innovation relative to its level of development," said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the organisation which is a knowledge partner in the initiative.
"We applaud the new innovation policies put in place by the new Indian government, which are not yet effectively captured by the data used in the GII. Some of these measures have already had a positive impact on the build-up of innovation momentum and entrepreneurial mood in the country, and we expect this trend to grow in the coming months and years," he said.