India jumps four places in this year’s Global Innovation Index, now among top 50

India has moved up four places in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 report which was released on Wednesday.

India is now ranked  48th, as per the report. Compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Cornell University, and INSEAD business school, the index assessed 131 economies.

According to the report, there is a gradual eastward shift in the locus of innovation. Asian countries–notably, China, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam–have improved their ranks considerably in the field of innovation over the years.

India retained the highest rank in the Central and Southern Asian region, followed by Iran, said the report.

Moreover, India has become the third most innovative lower-middle-income economy in the world, moving up four positions since last year.

It ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering, and R&D-intensive global companies, said the report.

Thanks to universities such as the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, and its top scientific publications, India is the lower-middle-income economy with the highest innovation quality, added the report.

“As shown by China, India and Vietnam, the persistent pursuit of innovation pays off over time,” said Former Dean and Professor of Management at Cornell University Soumitra Dutta. “The GII has been used by governments of those countries and others around the world to improve their innovation performance,” added Dutta.

(With IANS inputs)