South Korea retained the global crown in the 2022 Bloomberg Innovation Index, though improvements by Germany in research and education brought Europe’s largest economy to near-parity in the annual ranking.
The U.S. moved up to eighth place, a year after cracks in education scores pushed it out of the top 10 for the first time.
The annual Bloomberg Innovation Index, in its seventh year, analyzes dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies.
The ranking comes as global elites gather at this week’s annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where they will discuss the future of globalization, the role of the state and how innovation propels countries forward.
In the Bloomberg Index, Germany almost caught six-time champion South Korea on the strength of added-value from manufacturing and research intensity, much of it built around industrial giants such as Volkswagen AG, Robert Bosch GmbH and Daimler AG. Although South Korea extended its winning streak, its lead narrowed in part because of lower scores in patent activity.
Sweden, China
Sweden, the runner-up in 2018, fell to the seventh spot. Patent activity boosted the scores for China and Israel, which was a big winner by jumping five spots to fifth overall. The Middle Eastern country surpassed Singapore, Sweden and Japan in the process.
