Germany Comes in First
South Korea took the second spot with 88.16 points in Bloomberg Global Innovation Index 2020, which was released on Jan. 18. Germany topped the list with 88.21 points. South Korea, which did so from 2014 to 2019, fell one notch as its productivity ranking dropped due to external factors such as Japan’s export curbs and U.S.-China trade disputes.
The annual index covering 60 countries consists of the seven evaluation categories of productivity, R&D intensity, manufacturing capacity, high-tech density, higher education efficiency, concentration of researchers, and patent status.
Productivity and higher education efficiency most affected South Korea’s ranking in the 2020 index. Specifically, the country slid from 18th to 29th in productivity, which is defined as the GDP per working-age person aged 15 or older.
Besides, its ranking fell from second to third in manufacturing capacity and from seventh to 16th in higher education efficiency. On the other hand, it rose from seventh to fifth in concentration of researchers and from 20th to 11th in patent status. It retained its second and fourth spots in R&D intensity and high-tech density, respectively.
Singapore came in third with 87.01 points, followed by Switzerland (85.67) and Sweden (85.50). The United States, Japan and China came in ninth, 12th and 15th, respectively. The United States and Japan moved down whereas China climbed one notch.