India slips two positions on global innovation index

Switzerland, Sweden top the index followed by UK, Netherlands and US

India dropped two places from its last year's position of 64 to 66 on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2013.

The index, which ranks 142 countries across the world on their innovation capacity and efficiency, is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, World Intellectual Property Organization and Confederation of Indian Industry. This year's toppers in the GII were Switzerland and Sweden, followed by the UK, the Netherlands and the US. These countries were among the top 10 last year, too.

"The results of the GlI provide testimony to the global nature of innovation today. The top 25 ranked countries are a mix of nations from across the world-North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and West Asia. While high-income economies dominate the list, several new players have increased their innovation capabilities and outputs," said Soumitra Dutta, co-editor of the report and a top official at Cornell University.

This year's findings suggest India fared relatively better on criteria such as gross capital formation (as a percentage of gross domestic product) (rank 9), investment in new business (rank 20), industrial cluster development (rank 29), growth rate as a percentage of PPP GDP/worker (rank 14), computer and information services exports (rank 1) and creative goods exports (rank 11). But, its low ranking in parameters such as political stability (rank 123), ease of starting business (rank 128), school life expectancy (rank 109), pupil-teacher ratio (rank 108) and knowledge absorption (rank 122) was instrumental in its downward journey.

The GII 2013 is calculated as the average of two sub-indices. The Innovation Input Sub-Index weighs key factors that contribute to a country's economy such as its institutions, human capital and research output, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication. The Innovation Output Sub-Index captures actual evidence of innovation results based on knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.