South Korea Ranks 5th Among 132 Countries in Global Innovation Index

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyungsoo] South Korea ranked 5th in the 'Global Innovation Index' evaluation announced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) under the United Nations.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korean Intellectual Property Office on the 20th, South Korea ranked 5th among 132 countries evaluated, following Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It rose 5 places compared to last year and was evaluated as the country with the most improved innovation capacity among the top 20 countries.

Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, and the United Kingdom maintained their 1st to 4th positions this year as well, following last year. In Asia, Singapore (8th), China (12th), and Japan (13th) ranked high following South Korea.

The Global Innovation Index was introduced in 2007 by WIPO and INSEAD (European Institute of Business Administration) to measure innovation capacity, an important factor for economic development, among WIPO member countries, providing information necessary for public policy or management strategy formulation in each country.

South Korea maintained the world’s 1st place for three consecutive years in the human capital and research category, one of the seven evaluation fields consisting of five input areas (institutions, human capital & research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication) and two output areas (knowledge & technology outputs, creative outputs).

In the two output categories evaluating the increase in domestic and international intellectual property applications, South Korea rose from 10th last year to 5th this year. Despite the COVID-19 situation, domestic intellectual property applications increased by 9.1% compared to the previous year. WIPO international patent applications also increased by 5.2% year-on-year, surpassing Germany to rank 4th.

Looking at 81 detailed indicators, South Korea ranked 1st in 9 indicators, 5 more than last year, including patent applications and e-government.