The Global Innovation Index (GII) produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is based on seven underlying pillars that together comprise 78 individual indicators in areas such as:
– Institutions
– Human capital and research
– Infrastructure
– Market sophistication
– Business sophistication
– Knowledge and technology results
– Creative results
Today we will analyze graphs of The economist like this Visual Capitalist to draw conclusions.
The magnitude of the circles reveals the size of the population, and when they appear on salmon, it means they are performing better than expected for their level of development:
Israel stands out in the Middle East and North Africa. South Korea, in Southeast Asia (fourth place in the world, the best position to date). Chile, in Latin America. China, among the upper-middle income countries. India, among those with lower-middle income. And Rwanda, among those with low incomes:
Spain occupies 29th position, a discreet position if we consider that we are the 14th world power in terms of GDP. The contrast highlights the need for a greater push for innovation, beyond the traditional dependence on tourism and construction:
Germany is no longer among the ten most innovative countries in the world, being replaced by China. This increase is notable because the classification is based on relative indicators, such as R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP or the number of researchers per million inhabitants, and not on absolute measures.
In fact, the leaders of the ranking continue to be small countries: Switzerland (for the second year in a row), followed by Sweden and the United States:
China’s entry into the top ten is all the more notable given its status as a middle-income economy. Countries with similar GDP per capita are expected to rank between 50th and 60th. Other countries that exceeded expectations for their income levels include India, South Korea, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.
China also appears to be getting a satisfactory return on its investment in innovation. Your results scores (patents, trademarks, exports, etc.) are better than expected, given your level of investment (education, research expenses, etc.).
This challenges the conventional view that Chinese innovation is imposed by force, relying on enormous amounts of money and labor.
Globally, the number of patent applications and scientific publications around the world is growing again. Investment in venture capital also increased by 7.7% in 2024. However, much of this spending was concentrated in the United States and was channeled into a single sector: artificial intelligence.
On the other hand, Forbes identified the most innovative companies, evaluating them based on an “innovation premium”: the difference between a company’s market value and the net present value of its existing business. This metric reveals how much investors are effectively betting on a company’s future innovation.
First place is occupied by ServiceNow, a software company specializing in automating digital workflows. It’s transforming the way companies manage their digital workflows by automating IT, HR and customer service.
The classification includes companies such as Tesla, Amazon, Meta and several biotechnology companies. The absence of giants like Google is surprising.
Tencent appears, one of the largest technology conglomerates in China, operating in social networks, video games, cloud computing and financial technology. It is investing heavily in R&D and holds one of the largest AI patent portfolios in the world:
The pharmaceutical industry has made extraordinary advances in treating and curing a wide range of diseases and conditions. The main driver of this progress is the billions of dollars driving cutting-edge R&D.
The area of greatest interest is oncology, which represents 9,476 medicines, 40% of the total in development. The neurological ones continue with 3,868, while the metabolic ones, driven by the increase in weight loss medications, total 3,314.
These data suggest that humanity could defeat cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease within a decade or two, thanks to the current pace of innovation:
AI will allow us to multiply productivity and growth, as well as cure many diseases. Don’t be skeptical of it or you will miss the greatest opportunity for advancement we will ever experience. If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never have a negative thought.
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