History of the Global Innovation Index
Innovation is widely recognized as a central driver of economic growth and development. The aim of the Global Innovation Index is to provide insightful data on innovation and, in turn, to assist economies in evaluating their innovation performance and making informed innovation policy considerations.
Since its creation in 2007, the GII has been impactful on three fronts. First, policymakers are now referring regularly to innovation and their innovation rankings as part of their economic policy strategies. Additionally, the GII is now considered a yardstick for measuring innovation by the UN General Assembly, as noted in its resolution on Science, Technology and Innovation for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its 74th session in 2019.
Second, the GII allows economies to assess their innovation performance. Economies invest resources to analyze their GII results in cross-ministerial task forces and use the GII to design appropriate innovation and intellectual property (IP) policies.
Third, the GII continues to give a strong impetus for economies to prioritize and collect innovation metrics. By experimenting with new data and evaluating existing innovation metrics, the GII also aims to shape the innovation measurement agenda.
The GII is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. The 2020 edition of the GII draws on the expertise of its Knowledge Partners: the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Dassault Systèmes—The 3DEXPERIENCE Company, and the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI), as well as an Advisory Board of eminent experts. For the tenth consecutive year, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission audited the GII rankings and associated calculations.
CURRENT REPORTS
GII Framework
The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an evolving project that builds on its previous editions while incorporating newly available data and that is inspired by the latest research on the measurement of innovation. This year the GII model includes 131 countries/economies, which represent 93.5% of the world’s population and 97.4% of the world’s GDP in purchasing power parity current international dollars. The GII relies on two sub-indices—the Innovation Input Sub-Index and the Innovation Output Sub-Index—each built around pillars. Three measures are calculated:
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Innovation Input Sub-Index: Five input pillars capture elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities.
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Innovation Output Sub-Index: Innovation outputs are the result of innovative activities within the economy. Although the Output Sub-Index includes only two pillars, it has the same weight in calculating the overall GII scores as the Input Sub-Index.
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The overall GII score is the average of the Input and Output Sub-Indices.
Each pillar is divided into three sub-pillars, each of which is composed of individual indicators, a total of 80 this year. The GII pays special attention to presenting a scoreboard for each economy that includes strengths and weaknesses and makes the data series accessible (Appendix II); providing data sources and definitions (Appendix III); and detailed technical notes and adjustments to the GII framework, including a detailed analysis of the factors influencing year-on-year changes (Appendix IV). In addition, since 2011 the GII has undergone an independent statistical audit performed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Union (Appendix V).
ADVISORY BOARD
In 2011, an Advisory Board was established to provide advice on the research underlying the Global Innovation Index (GII), generate synergies at its stages of development, and assist with the dissemination of its messages and results. The Advisory Board is a select group of leading international practitioners with expertise in the realm of innovation. Its members are from diverse geographical and institutional backgrounds and participate in their personal capacity. We extend our gratitude to all Advisory Board members for their continuous support and our collaboration.
GII 2020 ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
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Dongmin CHEN
Dean, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and Professor, Faculty of Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University; China
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Leonid GOKHBERG
First Vice-Rector, National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE); and Director, Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (HSE); the Russian Federation
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Yuko HARAYAMA
Professor Emeritus, Tohoku University; and Former Executive Member, Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI), Cabinet Office of Japan
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John KAO
Executive Chairman, ThayerMahan, Inc.; and Former Harvard Business School Professor; the United States of America
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Beethika KHAN
Program Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
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Raghunath Anant MASHELKAR
National Research Professor, Global Research Alliance; Former Director General, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR); and Former Chairperson, National Innovation Foundation; India
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Heizo TAKENAKA
Director, Center for Global Innovation Studies, Toyo University; former Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy; former Minister of State for Financial Services; former State Minister in Charge of Postal Services Privatization; former Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications; and World Economic Forum Foundation Board Member; Japan
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Pedro WONGTSCHOWSKI
Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Ultrapar Participações S.A., Embraer S.A., the Brazilian Enterprise for Research and Innovation (EMBRAPII), and the Brazilian Association of Innovative Companies (ANPEI)
CONTACT US
For all general, research, or media inquiries, please contact us at: gii@wipo.int
Main contact persons:
Vanessa Behrens
Project Manager
Sacha Wunsch-Vincent
GII Co-Editor