Missed the launch of the GII 2022 in September? Here’s a summary of the topics discussed and key findings!

October 20, 2022

The 15th edition of the Global Innovation Index was officially launched on September 29, 2022 with an event that brought together ministers, business leaders and innovation experts from around the world to discuss the future of innovation-driven growth.

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The event opened with remarks by Daren Tang, Director General of WIPO, who introduced this year’s theme “What is the future of innovation-driven growth?” and its importance in today’s innovation environment.

Marco Alemán, Assistant Director General who leads WIPO’s IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector, held a Q&A session with some of the GII 2022 authors, including: Carsten Fink (Chief Economist, WIPO), Lorena Rivera León (Co-editor of the GII, WIPO), Vanessa Behrens (Project Manager of the GII, WIPO) and Jack Gregory (Innovation Data Analyst, WIPO). The contributors provided a perspective on the current state of different stages in the innovation cycle (as presented in the report’s Global Innovation Tracker: ) that can be summarized as follows:

Science and innovation investments thrived despite challenges,
technological progress is slower than expected,
technology adoption is quite healthy but there is more potential, and
the socioeconomic impact of innovation is at a historic low.

The event also revealed a number of interesting findings from the GII rankings. Key highlights include:

Switzerland – for the 12th year in a row – ranks first in the GII 2022. The US ascends to 2nd position, followed by Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
China edges toward the top 10, ranking 11th, overtaking France; China remains the only middle-income economy in the GII top 30.
Canada makes a comeback into the top 15, rising one position.
Turkey and India enter the top 40 for the first time, at 37th and 40th, respectively.
The geography of innovation is continuing to shift towards Asia. Two Asian economies are in the top 10, with the Republic of Korea in the 6th position and Singapore rising to number 7th.
Five Asian countries have seen significant progress in their innovation ranking over the past ten years: China, India, Viet Nam, Iran and the Philippines.
The top economies in the Northern Africa and West Asia region are Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The Latin America and Caribbean region is led by Chile, Brazil, which is a newcomer in the region’s top 3 economies – and Mexico.
The mainland Sub-Saharan Africa region is led by South Africa, Botswana and Kenya.
This year, 26 countries outperform on innovation relative to their development, including newcomers Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

Several Ministers responsible for innovation commented on the innovation performance of their economy and how they use the GII in the formulation of their innovation policies.

The first panel, chaired by Director General Daren Tang, was composed of leading economists, corporate leaders, researchers and representatives of international organizations with a wide geographical and thematic perspective on “The Future of Innovation-Driven Growth”.

To understand aggregate productivity growth […], it’s important to better understand business dynamics in general, and to pay special attention to contributions to innovation made by small businesses.
Lucia S. Foster, Chief Economist, United States Census Bureau

At the policy level, we would advocate for a freer world for scientific research exchanges and also data sharing […], stronger ICT investments […], and stronger IP protection.
Fan Zhiyong, Vice President, Intellectual Property, Huawei Technologies

During the pandemic, “we could see industries that were more readily able to adapt these digital technologies and outcompete the industries that were less adaptive, and I think this is a positive sign, that we are just at the brink of this [Digital Age] wave.”
Ardemis Boghossian, Assistant Professor, EPFL

We are actually on the cusp of an innovation wave created by sustainability, the global pandemic […] and economic uncertainty.
Jessica Sinnott, Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Chief IP Counsel, DuPont

There is no reason for the innovation that is required to drive […] technologies that are going to be at the forefront of fighting climate change, not being scaled-up within the [African] continent.
Stephen Karingi, Director, Regional Integration & Trade Division, UN Economic Commission for Africa

Portulans Institute President, Soumitra Dutta, chaired a second panel on “Actions supporting an Innovation-Driven Productivity Revival”, featuring insights from leaders in industry, academia, and science.

The GII is used by several dozens of countries in terms of guiding the innovation policys and providing useful benchmarking data […]. There is also has another important function of the Global Innovation Index, which is to raise questions about the future.
Soumitra Dutta, GII Co-editor and Dean, Saïd Business School, Oxford University

[Productivity growth is harder to observe because] exponential disruptions are being replaced by continuous innovation, but given how software and AI are ever more present in our day to day, we will see a wave of growth in innovation and productivity.
Blanca Treviño, President and CEO, Softtek and GII Advisory Board

There needs to be the combination of a center of gravity for entrepreneurs, and infrastructure for testing and developing solutions. This has been crucial for attracting innovators here in New York.
Shaun Stewart, CEO, Newlab

The observed shift from physical capital to intangible capital needs to be taken into account in the productivity dynamics, the latter can boost productivity by coming up with ways in which we can produce more at a faster pace but we need complementary investment in managerial and organizational skills [to see this in the productivity figures].
Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, Professor, LUISS Guido Carli University

Innovation that is sustainable and drives productivity from the ground up is innovation that enables consumers to make day-to-day decisions […] effectively and efficiently
Juliet Anammah, Chair, Jumia Nigeria and Group Chief Sustainability Officer

Often ethics and social considerations are seen as barriers to innovation, which really does not have to be the case. They can be drivers and enablers of responsible innovation.
Alena Buyx, Chair, German Ethics Council and Professor, Technical University of Munich

The event concluded with closing remarks from Marco Alemán who thanked participants and acknowledged the Ministers, business leaders, distinguished researchers and all speakers who clearly set the tone of the key role that innovation will play for future productivity growth. At the conclusion of the event, GII Corporate Network Partners shared their messages with the audience.