South Korea surges in UN innovation index

In this photo released by the United Nations, K-Pop band BTS speaks during a meeting focused on youth issues at the United Nations in New York on September 24, 2018. K-Pop sensation BTS brought their star power to the United Nations on, telling the world’s youth to listen to their inner voice and resist pressure to conform. (Photo by Mark GARTEN / Agence France-Presse)

GENEVA, Switzerland — South Korea made the biggest jump among the world’s 10 most innovative economies in the United Nations’s annual rankings published Thursday, alongside a gloomy global outlook for innovation investment.

While Switzerland, followed by Sweden and then the United States, retained the top three positions in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024, Singapore overtook Britain to secure fourth place.

But South Korea was the biggest mover in the GII’s top 10, up four places to sixth, leapfrogging Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark.

Now in its 17th edition, the GII ranking of 133 countries is the flagship publication of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the UN agency that deals with patenting and innovation.

“Looking at the global landscape in 2023, we find cloudy skies and gloomy weather,” said WIPO chief Daren Tang.

Following the boom years of 2020 to 2022, research and development expenditures declined, the number of scientific publications fell, and venture capital investments returned to pre-pandemic levels, he noted.

“However, technological progress remained strong in 2023, particularly in health-related fields like genome sequencing, as well as in computing power and electric batteries,” he added.

“Technology adoption also deepened, especially in 5G, robotics, and electric vehicles.”

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Amid tighter financial conditions, the GII’s co-editor Sacha Wunsch-Vincent said the slowdown in innovation investment made “the prospect for 2024 and 2025 quite uncertain”.

“This comes after a prolonged period of almost an innovation golden age.

“The geopolitical circumstances certainly play a role. The very high interest rates, which put an end to cheap money, are also part of the problem,” he added.

“We are at a real crossroads in terms of the innovation investment scenarios.”

South Korea’s K-pop and smartphone reset

Switzerland ranks first in the GII for the 14th consecutive year.

As for South Korea’s surge, Wunsch-Vincent said its companies had had to rethink their strategy in the smartphone, IT, and semiconductor markets, with some “quite cutting-edge technologies coming out” of the country again.

“It took two or so years for these companies to readjust and to come out stronger, which explains this rise in ranking,” he told reporters.

Tang added that South Korea benefited from innovation-oriented regulations and heavy private investment in research and development.

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Besides industry and technology, it is also a creative and cultural powerhouse, he said, citing K-pop and Korean dramas.

“South Korea has been able to make that a very important part of their exports,” said Tang, even overtaking flat-screen televisions.

China back above France

China, India, Iran, Morocco, the Philippines, and Turkey have been the biggest climbers in the index over the past 10 years.

China, which overtook France in 11th place, remains the only middle-income economy in the GII top 30.

The top three upper middle-income countries in the index were China, Malaysia (33rd), and Turkey (37th).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had climbed 31 places in 11 years.

“Our goal… is to secure a position among the top 10,” he said.

The highest-ranked lower middle-income nations were India (39th), Vietnam (44th), and the Philippines (53rd).

“Innovation is an inevitable trend, a strategic choice and a top priority for countries in their pursuit of rapid and sustainable development,” said Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

The front-runners in the low-income group were Rwanda (104th), Madagascar (110th), and Togo (117th).

Top 15 in the GII 2024

(2023 position in brackets)

1 – Switzerland (1)

2 – Sweden (2)

3 – United States (3)

4 – Singapore (5)

5 – Britain (4)

6 – South Korea (10)

7 – Finland (6)

8 – Netherlands (7)

9 – Germany (8)

10 – Denmark (9)

11 – China (12)

12 – France (11)

13 – Japan (13)

14 – Canada (15)

15 – Israel (14)