Regional stars such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to move up in global innovation rankings. They are also moving closer to the top innovation economies.
Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Sweden were named the world's most innovative countries of 2014 in annual rankings unveiled this week.
The Global Innovation Index, published annually since 2007, is now a leading benchmarking tool for business executives, policy makers and others seeking insight into the state of innovation around the world.
The Arab world, and the UAE in particular, formed a historical hub for innovation, said Mohammed Al-Gergawi, mnister of State for Cabinet Affairs.
He was speaking at the Middle East and North Africa launch conference of the 2014 Global Innovation Index in the UAE, hosted by du.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia ranked first and second among the countries of the Middle East in terms of overall performance in the 2014 Global Innovation Index, published by Cornell University and the European Institute for Business Administration INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Mohammed Al-Gergawi said: "The UAE encourages innovation in the fields of Internet, media, renewable energy and industries, and our economy is one of the knowledge and innovation-based economies as classified by the World Economic Forum, while our technological infrastructure is among the best in the world. And above all, our leadership believes that innovation is the asset of the future."
The GII 2014 surveys 143 economies around the world, using 81 indicators-to gauge both their innovation capabilities and measurable results.
Published annually since 2007, the GII is now a leading benchmarking tool for business executives, policy makers and others seeking insight into the state of innovation around the world.
This year's study benefits from the experience of its Knowledge Partners: the Confederation of Indian Industry, du and Huawei, as well as of an Advisory Board of 14 international experts.
The GII creates an environment in which innovation factors are under continual evaluation, including the following features: 143 country profiles, including data, ranks and strengths and weaknesses on 81 indicators from over 30 international public and private sources, of which 56 are hard data, 20 composite indicators, and 5 survey questions.
A transparent and replicable computation methodology including 90 percent confidence interval for each index ranking (GII, output and input sub-indices) and an analysis of factors affecting year-on-year changes in rankings
The GII 2014 is calculated as the average of two sub-indices. The Innovation Input Sub-Index gauges elements of the national economy which embody innovative activities grouped in five pillars which are institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication.
On the other hand, the Innovation Output Sub-Index captures actual evidence of innovation results, divided in two pillars: Knowledge and technology outputs and Creative outputs.
Amid a newly documented slowdown in the growth of global research and development, the theme of the Global Innovation Index 2014 is "The Human Factor in Innovation," exploring the role of human capital in the innovation process and underlining the growing interest that firms and governments have shown in identifying and energizing creative individuals and teams.
"Innovation is a major contributor to economic growth and the key to economic success in a global economy, as well as the source of competitive advantage for industries and companies," said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry.
He added: "Countries in the Middle East are recognizing the importance of innovation. They are seeking to diversify their economies away from natural resources and toward knowledge intensive industries."
The human factor: The essential spark to innovation
This year's report highlights how the human factor of innovation largely explains which innovation champions remain at the top, and why some of the large emerging economies offer divergent innovation performances.
A closer look at a collection of indicators that focus on education as a subset of human capital formation helps understand differences in innovation performance across regions and income groups.
Analysis of the GII results shows that the human factor is even more critical for innovation success in higher-income economies than in lower-income economies.
It is likely that better educated citizens are more successful in higher-income economies in leveraging the favorable contexts (in business and markets) for driving innovation.
It also suggests that, as a country moves up the scale of innovation sophistication, the quality of its talents (in science, engineering, but also in business and management for example) become even more critical.
Bruno Lanvin, executive director for Global Indices at INSEAD, and co-author of the report, stresses that 'The talent dimension of innovation is particularly critical for MENA countries, whose young populations will require massive job creations in the years to come.
Reliance on 'imported skills' (from expats and consultants) needs to diminish rapidly if those countries want to be able to generate a sustainable flow of local innovation.
In this context, education is key. While countries like Tunisia (25th in tertiary education), Lebanon (26th), and to some extent Oman (32nd) have traditionally scored high on tertiary education, and the spectacular results registered this year by the UAE and Qatar (respectively 1st and 9th) reflect the high priority they provided to education over the last decade.'
Soumitra Dutta, Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean, professor of management, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, and co-author of the report, said: "The UAE has become the top performer in the Northern Africa and Western Asia region, outperforming its peers in many key dimensions of innovation. Although the region has to do more to achieve its full potential, regional stars such as United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia continue to move up in the rankings and closer to the top innovation economies."
Osman Sultan, CEO, du, commented: "With a visionary leadership and continued investments in education, fostering avenues of growth and development, it is not surprising that the UAE leads region in key innovation parameters, The continued progression of the UAE in the GII rankings is proof positive of national efforts to bolster innovation-driven sustainable growth. There are three areas in which the country has demonstrated significant growth: Human Capital and Research, Infrastructure, and Country Institutions, which are the key pillars to fostering a connected society. Investing in these areas will empower business acumen and facilitate a knowledge-based economy, powered by connectedness."​
The GII 2014 confirms the persistence of global innovation divides. Among the top 10 and top 25, rankings have changed but the list of economies remains unaltered.
A difficult-to-bridge divide exists where less-innovative economies have difficulty keeping up with higher-ranking economies, even when making notable gains themselves.
This can largely be explained by their difficulties to grow and retain the human resources necessary for sustained innovation, which is the focus of this year's report.
Bruno Lanvin, added: "As innovation becomes a global game, a growing number of emerging economies are confronted with complex issues whereby 'brain gain' can only be generated through a delicate balance between talents outflows (citizens seeking an education abroad) and inflows (whereby high performers return home to innovate and create local jobs, and diasporas contribute to national competitiveness).
Around the world, we see encouraging signs that this is happening. In GCC countries, it has been common for bright students to receive a high-level education abroad (in business, engineering) and return home to take high-level responsibilities. In countries like Lebanon, Morocco or Tunisia, diasporas have played positive roles in innovation, both abroad and at home."
This year's report, both through its sub-indicators and through the chapters provided by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the OECD and reports on India, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Morocco highlights how the human factor of innovation partly explains which innovation champions remain at the top, and why some of the large emerging economies offer divergent innovation performances."
In terms of education as a subset of human capital formation the top performers within the high income group are the Republic of Korea, Finland and the UK. China, Argentina and Hungary take the top positions among the middle-income countries. All of these countries have made visible efforts to maintain or enhance the quality of their human resources through education and life-long learning.
The GII shows that better educated citizens are more successful in higher-income economies in leveraging the favorable contexts for driving innovation.
As countries move up the scale of innovation sophistication, the quality of its talents in science, engineering, but also in business and management for example become even more critical.
For the GII 2014, Switzerland remains the leader for the fourth consecutive year.
The United Kingdom moves up a rank to second place, followed by Sweden. A new entry into the top 10 this year is Luxembourg (9th).
These GII leaders have created well-linked innovation ecosystems, where investments in human capital combined with strong innovation infrastructures contribute to high levels of creativity.
In particular, the top 25 countries in the GII consistently score high in most indicators and have strengths in areas such as innovation infrastructure, including information and communication technologies; business sophistication such as knowledge workers, innovation linkages, and knowledge absorption; and innovation outputs such as creative goods and services and online creativity.
The quality of innovation is assessed as well. In terms of innovation quality as measured by university performance, the reach of scholarly articles and the international dimension of patent applications the US holds the top place within the high-income group, followed by Japan, Germany and Switzerland.
Top-scoring middle-income economies are narrowing the gap on innovation quality with China in the lead, followed by Brazil and India.
Soumitra Dutta added: "When reviewing the GII quality indicators, top performing middle-income economies are closing the gap with high-income economies. China significantly outperforms the average score of high-income economies across the combined quality indicators. To close the gap even further, middle-income economies must continue to invest in strengthening their innovation ecosystems closely monitor the quality of their innovation indicators."
Source: http://www.zawya.com/story/Innovation_index_UAE_and_Kingdom_lead_in_Mideast-ZAWYA20140722041624/
