In two places: Germany catches up with innovation

Germany moved up from tenth to eighth place in this year’s United Nations comparison of countries for innovation. It is the best website for Germany since 2009.

The German economy is booming when it comes to innovation. This is one of the results of the new comparison of innovative countries of the United Nations (UN). Germany moved up two places to eighth, according to a report issued by the United Nations Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva today. It is Germany’s highest ranking in 13 years.

Better investment climate

The investment climate in particular was rated better this time around, but Germany also performed better than in the previous year’s index in education and online product development. In the subcategory “Human Capital and Research”, the German economy even managed to take second place, only South Korea was the best here.

The United Nations organization also confirmed that government spending on research and development has increased recently in Germany, while it has decreased in the United States and Japan. However, the political and private framework conditions for innovation in Germany were rated worse than they were a year ago.

Switzerland again in first place

In the meantime, Switzerland managed to defend the first place again – for the 12th time in a row, the Alpine Republic took first place. It is followed by the United States, Sweden, Great Britain, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Singapore. Finland and Denmark are ranked ninth and tenth. Overall, the innovative strengths of 132 economies were examined using dozens of criteria.

Europe – a hotbed of innovation?

The regional perspective is also interesting: according to this, 15 of the 25 best innovative countries are located in Europe. Twelve of the 39 European economies surveyed have improved their rankings this year, including – in addition to Germany (8th) – the Netherlands (5th), Austria (17th) and Estonia (18th).

China is on the rise

In the meantime, China has continued to climb in the world rankings, and now it is firmly set its sights on the top ten. The People’s Republic traded places with France and thus improved from 12th to 11th place. China remains the only middle-income economy that ranks in the top 30.

Warning of slowing technical progress

In the report, WIPO expressed concern that productivity stagnated globally and that technological progress appeared to be slowing, despite increased investment. “Therefore, we must not only monitor investments in the future, but also pay more attention to how innovation affects the economy and society,” said WIPO Director General Darren Tang.