Global Innovation Index – Where Does India Rank?

The Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks countries as per their success and capacity in innovation. It is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. Innovation is a crucial driver of economic development; the GII aims to provide an innovation ranking and rich analysis referencing 130 economies. This helps the countries see how they are performing compared to other countries. 

Over the last decade, the GII has established itself as both a leading reference for innovation and a “tool for action” for economies, making it a valuable source to look at the growth of a country. 

India and Its Glory at GII 2021

With an average age of 29, India is one of the youngest populations globally. This young economy is working hard on all fronts to prove its mettle in the international innovation landscape. It was ranked as the 46th most innovative nation globally in 2021, entering the top 50 countries for the second time. 

Besides, India is climbing at the top of the ladder among Central and South Asian nations. After Vietnam, it has emerged as the second most innovative nation among lower-middle-income countries. These achievements are a piece of evidence of how the young country is thriving and putting in its best to come out with flying colors. 

The “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” seems to be coming into shape with the programs and initiatives by the Government for the upliftment of the country on the technological and cultural fronts. With the inauguration of the Atal Innovation Mission, Start-up India, Make in India, and other initiatives, India is emerging as a rich self-reliant country. Even after the unprecedented setbacks brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic, India has shown exemplary performance in GII 2021. 

GII becomes a motivating report for the young country to continue to move in the right direction. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), writes, 

As nations formulate appropriate strategies for saving lives and design economic growth trajectories, the GII 2021 report will provide a significant reference point, allowing countries to assess their innovation capabilities, potential, readiness, and resilience, not only to fight the current and future crises but also to seek economic recovery and to create business models that will survive and thrive in the new post-pandemic world.

Let’s take a quick look at how India and other countries performed at the GII 2021. 

Performance of India at GII 2021

As mentioned earlier, India has been ranked as the 46th most innovative nation in the world and the second most innovative nation among lower-middle-income countries after Vietnam, according to the report.

Moreover, it is pertinent for Indians to note that the GII shows how the selected middle-income economies, including China, Turkey, Viet Nam, India, and the Philippines, are catching up and changing the innovation landscape.

Surprisingly, India has been on an upward trajectory over the past few years in the GII. The ranking has shot up from 81 in 2015 to 46 in 2021, a massive jump in just six years. On comparing the results of the past two years, one can see that in 2021, India ranks 57th in innovation inputs, the same as last year but higher than in 2019. As for innovation outputs, India ranks 45th. This position is the same as last year but higher than in 2019.

Moreover, India ranks 1st among the ten economies in Central and Southern Asia. The Government attributed the country’s improved performance to atomic energy, science and technology, biotechnology, and space.

India’s innovation performance is above the average for the upper-middle-income groups in five of the seven innovation pillars, i.e., in institutions, human capital and research, market sophistication, business sophistication, and knowledge technology and outputs.

India ranks number one on the ICT services factor and posits itself as a world leader in the development and trade of technologically sophisticated services.

Factors that boosted the ranking:

• Market Sophistication Pillar – credit, investment, and trade diversification and market scale
• Knowledge and technology outputs pillar – knowledge creation, knowledge impact, and knowledge diffusion
• Percentage of graduates in science and engineering
• Global corporate R&D investors
• QS University rankings
• Easing of protection of minority investors
• Domestic industry diversification
• Domestic market sale
• Citable documents
• Labour productivity growth
• ICT services export as a percentage of total trade
• Cultural and creative services exports as a percentage of total trade

Sub-indicators that have explicitly been highlighted as a weakness in the Indian context pertain to:

1. School life expectancy
2. Secondary pupil-teacher ratio
3. Tertiary inbound mobility
4. ICT access
5. ICT use
6. Environmental performance
7. Females employed with advanced degrees
8. New businesses
9. Entertainment and media market
10. Printing and other media as a percentage of manufacturing

To conclude, India holds a bright future; however, it needs to work on its weak aspects to rise high in the future GII rankings. Key focus must be laid on the infrastructure sector which secured 81 ranks among the 132 countries participating.