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India retained its 40th position on the annual Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023 with a score of 38.1, due to its vibrant start-up ecosystem, knowledge capital and the work done by public and private research organisations.
The index by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) was released on Thursday and ranked 132 economies on the Innovation Index. India also retained its top position in the lower-middle-income group and the Central and South Asian region.
“A total of 21 economies outperformed on innovation as expected relative to their level of development. India, the Republic of Moldova and Vietnam are each innovation overperformers for 13 years in a row,” WIPO said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Switzerland (1st place), followed by Sweden, United States, United Kingdom and Singapore are the world’s top innovative economies in 2023. Barring China (12th place), no other middle or lower-middle-income economy features in the top 30.
According to the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, India has been on a rising trajectory over the past several years, from a rank of 81 in 2015 to 40 in 2023, as all government departments have played a pivotal role in enriching the national innovation ecosystem.
"Most importantly, the Atal Innovation Mission has played a major role in expanding the innovation ecosystem. NITI Aayog has been working tirelessly to ensure the optimisation of national efforts for bringing policy-led innovation in different areas such as electric vehicles, biotechnology, nanotechnology, space, alternative energy sources,” it said.
The report also mentions that the world’s five biggest science and technology clusters are all located in East Asia, including the Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai cluster.
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“Another noteworthy trend is the ascent of India in terms of publication output (ranking 4th in 2022), overtaking the United Kingdom (fifth) and close behind Germany (third),” it notes.
The GII 2023 used 80 indicators to track global innovation trends in 132 economies, guiding policymakers and business leaders in stimulating human ingenuity. This year, the report’s findings are unveiled against a background of slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, high interest rates and geopolitical conflict.
Of the 80 indicators, India holds top rankings in key indicators such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services exports (5th place), venture capital (VC) received (6th place), graduates in science and engineering (11th place) and global corporate Research and Development (R&D) investors (13th place).
Besides, the report mentions that scientific publications, research and development (R&D), the number of venture capital deals and patents increased in 2022, and the spending by corporations representing the largest investors in R&D reached $1.1 trillion in 2022—an increase of 7.4 per cent year-on-year.
“The VC outlook for 2023 and 2024 is uncertain, with high-interest rates likely to continue to impact the financing of innovation. Reflecting a deteriorating climate for risk finance, the total value of VC investments declined sharply by close to 40 per cent in 2022,” the report notes.
