Last month, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the Global Innovation Index, which ranks 133 countries around the world based on their capacity for innovation as well as their ability to adopt technology and create socioeconomic impact through technological advancements. The United States ranked third in the overall index, behind Switzerland and Sweden; China ranked eleventh.
WIPO is a United Nations agency committed to promoting innovation and creativity through the development of an effective global intellectual property ecosystem. It has released the Global Innovation Index annually since 2007 as a tool to help nations gauge their level of innovation and refine their innovation policies.
The index ranks countries on a range of metrics, including overall investments in science and innovation and the results of those investments. The index found that gross expenditures on research and development in the United States were equal to 3.59% of the gross domestic product in 2023, up .1 percentage points from the year before.
However, the United States dropped from second to fourth in innovation inputs (“elements of the national economy that enable innovation activities” such as institutions, infrastructure, and human capital) and from fourth to fifth in innovation outputs (“results of innovative activities within the economy”) in 2023 compared to the year before. For example, the number of patent filings as well as the number of scientific publications in the United States both declined in 2023. (There was a worldwide drop in both, but the United States experienced an even greater decline). Further, the United States ranked 20th in researchers per capita and 75th in the percentage of science and engineering graduates relative to the total number of graduates.
The index also tracks leading science and technology (S&T) clusters around the world. S&T clusters, according to the index, “can be entire regions or cities” that “serve as the backbone of a robust national innovation ecosystem.” The index specifically measures the number of published patent applications and authors listed on published scientific articles within a geographical area to compile the top 100 S&T clusters in the world.
According to the index, China has more S&T clusters (26) in the top 100 than the United States (20). Clusters in China include two of the “fastest growing clusters globally” – Hefei and Zhengzhou, which lead in patents in semiconductors and computer technology respectively. Clusters in the United States that rank in the top 100 include the San Jose-San Francisco area in California, which leads in patents in computer technology, and the Boston-Cambridge area in Massachusetts, which leads in patents in pharmaceuticals. Time will tell whether recent federal investments in place-based innovation, through programs such as the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines and the Economic Development Administration’s Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs, can help additional U.S. clusters move up this list.
Innovation is crucial to driving the economy and boosting global competitiveness. The Global Innovation Index makes clear that the United States remains an innovation powerhouse, but it also illustrates the intensity of global competition for innovation leadership, with other nations fast catching up. Policies to drive additional investments, particularly in federally funded R&D – which is at a 45-year low as a share of GDP – are critical for sustaining our ability to achieve the scientific and technological advancements that drive prosperity and security.
Kritika Agarwal is senior editorial officer at AAU.