India ranked 62nd in innovation index

Qatar has been ranked 26th in the Global Innovation Index, securing the highest position in the West Asia ahead of even the world's two largest emerging economies China (29) and India (62).

The report, prepared jointly by business school INSEAD and few other institutions, said that Qatar improved its world ranking by nine places vis-a-vis its 2010 position.

Last year, the Gulf country was placed 35th on the Global Innovation Index. The index is computed as an average of the scores across input pillars (describing the enabling environment for innovation) and output pillars (measuring actual achievements in innovation).

The UAE, which has the second position in the West Asia, is eight ranks below Qatar at No. 34 in the list. No other Middle East country figured in the top 40 on the Global Innovation Index.

As per the findings of The Global Innovation Index 2011 edition, Switzerland topped this year's GII ranking, with Sweden in second place and Singapore third.

Joining INSEAD as Knowledge Partners for the report were Alcatel-Lucent, Booz & Company, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a specialised agency of the United Nations.

The GII includes 16 economies from the West Asia and North Africa. While Qatar and the UAE are in the top 40, the other GCC economies are ranked in the top 60. Bahrain secured 46th rank, Kuwait was 52nd, Saudi Arabia 54th and Oman 57th.

Three countries from the region are within the bottom 15. They are Syria (115), Yemen (123) and Algeria (125). The five pillars of GII constitute the Innovation Input Sub-Index: 'institutions', 'human capital and research', 'infrastructure', 'market sophistication' and 'business sophistication'.