According to a study by the United Nations (UN), Switzerland is once again the most innovative country in the world. The United Nations Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that the Swiss Confederation defended its top position in the 2022 innovation country comparison ahead of Sweden and the USA. As in the previous year, Germany ranks eighth in this ranking. The states with particularly good development in terms of innovative strength included India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Brazil, it said.
It should be noted that European countries are still most strongly represented in the top 20 places. “They are not losing momentum,” said WIPO expert Sacha Wunsch-Vincent. According to WIPO, the significant decline in venture capital deployed could have negative consequences for the innovative strength of many countries. Last year, risk capital fell by 40 percent compared to the previous year, a trend that even worsened in the first half of 2023 with minus 47 percent compared to the same period last year, it said. According to WIPO Director General Daren Tang, the main reason is rising interest rates. “It’s the end of cheap money,” said Wunsch-Vincent.
The ranking is based on 80 criteria such as investments, education, government research spending and online product development. A total of 132 economies were analyzed. Burundi, Iraq and Guinea are ranked 130th, 131st and 132nd.