Switzerland re-named most innovative economy in 2023

Switzerland has this year retained its position as the most innovative economy in the world. According to a press release, it is ranked first in the Global Innovation Index 2023 for the 13th consecutive year. The Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization compiles the rankings annually. In this 16th year, Sweden has overtaken the U.S. and is now in second place. The third-ranked U.S. is followed by the U.K. and Singapore, and Germany remains in eighth place.

The index measures innovation using indicators such as institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, investments, knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs. A total of 132 countries were assessed for their innovative strength using 80 indicators.

According to the country report for Switzerland, the country has retained its position in third place for innovation inputs and first place for innovation outputs. Its biggest strengths – the criteria for which it is ranked in first to third place – are the number of country-code top-level domains, policies for doing business, the number of patents and patent families, and global brand value and market capitalization. Its biggest weaknesses, as in the previous year, are foreign direct investment (ranked 131st), high-tech imports (ranked 112th), labor productivity growth (68th) and domestic industry diversification (66th).

According to the press release, one of the main findings of this year’s index is that the global volume of venture capital funding fell markedly last year. In addition, a special report shows that the world’s five biggest science and technology clusters are now located in East Asia, with China emerging as the country with the greatest number of clusters. ce/mm