Bloomberg has been ranking the world's most innovative countries for six years. In the current ranking, South Korea once again takes first place. Far more surprising: The USA drops two places and is no longer among the ten most innovative countries in the world. Germany lands in fourth place.
Silicon Valley — in the international startup scene the The epitome of innovation. But that alone is no longer enough for the United States to be in the top 10 of the Bloomberg Innovation Index 2018 The USA has fallen from ninth to 11th place, partly because the efficiency of its higher education is rated significantly lower than in previous years. Experts don't see a reversal of this trend any time soon.
Looking up: Along with South Korea, Sweden also defended its excellent second place. Germany, on the other hand, had to say goodbye to third place. High-flyer Singapore now claims that spot—the island nation climbed three places overall. The reason: a top ranking in the category of efficient higher education.
And how does one explain Germany's drop in ranking? While the ranking in the research and productivity categories is good, the study sees considerable potential for improvement in the areas of patents and the density of high-tech companies. Overall, six European countries – Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, and France – made it into the top ten.
Top 10 countries in the Bloomberg Innovation Index 2018
- South Korea
- Sweden
- Singapore
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Japan
- Finland
- Denmark
- France
- Israel
Source: Bloomberg 2018 Innovation Index
7 categories & 50 countries
The 2018 Bloomberg Innovation Index evaluated 50 countries in seven different categories. South Africa, Iran, and Morocco took the bottom three places.
