China joins 20 most innovative economies, US falls to No 6

China joined the world's top 20 most innovative economies for the first time while the United States fell out of the five top-ranked countries, according to a report released by one of its co-sponsors, the UN intellectual property agency.

The Global Innovation Index 2018 keeps Switzerland in the No. 1 spot, followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom and Singapore. The United States fell from fourth place in 2017 to sixth this year, while China jumped from 22nd to 17th in the rankings.

Francis Gurry, director general of the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation, said China's ranking represents a breakthrough for its economy, which is rapidly transforming and prioritizing research and ingenuity.

"China's rapid rise reflects a strategic direction set from the top leadership to developing world-class capacity in innovation and to moving the structural basis of the economy to more knowledge-intensive industries that rely on innovation to maintain competitive advantage," Gurry said.

"It heralds the arrival of multipolar innovation." Now in its 11th edition, the index ranks 126 economies based on 80 indicators ranging from the creation of mobile applications to education spending, scientific and technical publications, and intellectual property filing rates.

The index is sponsored by the WIPO, Cornell University's SC Johnson College of Business and INSEAD, the graduate school of business with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. They say it gives global decision makers a better understanding of how to stimulate innovation, which "drives economic and human development."