Global Innovation Index Announced

Global Innovation Index Released Turkey climbed 10 positions to rank 41st in the Global Innovation Index, which measures countries' innovation performance worldwide and features 132 competing nations, achieving its best-ever ranking in the index. In the 2021 report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a UN-affiliated expert organization based in Switzerland, Turkey achieved a 10-position jump in the index this year, re-entering the top 50 league and becoming the country with the largest increase among those nations. Among the 132 countries included in the index, Turkey ranked 2nd among countries recording the largest gains. Assessing Turkey's record climb in the index, TİM President İsmail Gülle stated: "As the Turkish Exporters Assembly, we support our country's innovation ecosystem with our belief that exports will rise through innovation. Under the leadership of our President, with the support of our ministries, TİM's work toward the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, and the increasing competitive strength of our companies, Turkey made a huge jump in the Global Innovation Index, rising 10 positions at once. We believe Turkey will make even larger leaps in the index in the coming years. We are proud that our country achieved a historic record in the 2021 index following our undertaking, as TİM under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry and Technology within the Investment Climate Improvement Coordination Board (YOİKK), the task of preparing Turkey's Global Innovation Index Roadmap and Action Plan," he said. The 2021 Global Innovation Index was released today through a global online launch with the theme "Sustaining Innovation in the Face of the COVID-19 Crisis" by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an expert organization of the United Nations based in Switzerland. In the index evaluating 132 countries, Turkey rose to 41st place, achieving its best-ever ranking. Turkey achieved a 10-position jump in the index this year, re-entering the top 50 league and recording the largest increase among those nations. Among the 132 countries included in the index, Turkey ranked 2nd among those recording the largest gains. Turkey also moved up to 4th place among upper-middle-income countries. According to income group rankings, China, Bulgaria, and Malaysia ranked ahead of Turkey. China maintained its growth trend from the previous year, holding 12th place. Among upper-middle-income countries, Turkey demonstrated above-average performance in six of seven main components. The component in which Turkey performed best was "Human Capital and Research." In this component, Turkey ranked 26th, and in the "Creative Outputs" component, it ranked 35th. This year, Turkey demonstrated better performance in innovation outputs than in innovation inputs. The report also emphasized that Istanbul and Ankara host two leading science and technology clusters. It was noted that Istanbul, with a two-position increase, ranked 49th among the world's leading science and technology clusters. At the launch where the Global Innovation Index was released, for the first time this year, the Ministry of Industry and Technology and the report's corporate partner, the Turkish Exporters Assembly, an umbrella organization of 61 exporter associations, 27 sectors, and 100,000 exporters, were included. TİM President İsmail Gülle: "As the Turkish Exporters Assembly, we support our country's innovation ecosystem with our belief that exports will rise through innovation. Under the leadership of our President, with the support of our ministries, TİM's work toward the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, and the increasing competitive strength of our companies, Turkey made a huge jump in the Global Innovation Index, rising 10 positions at once and achieving its highest position in history with 41st place. As TİM, through İnovaLİG, İnoSuit, İnovaTİM, and TİM-TEB Startup Houses, we support Turkey's innovation ecosystem and companies' innovation culture, and we are implementing innovation-focused projects that will increase the added value of our exports. At Turkey's largest innovation gathering, Turkey Innovation Week, we brought together more than 700 speakers with 500,000 people over seven years. At Turkey Innovation Week held online in 2020, we set a record with 2 million views," he said. "Our Country Will Make Even Larger Leaps in the Index" With Turkey's first innovation development program İnovaLİG, we rewarded more than 5,000 companies. Through the Focused İnoSuit Program based on university-industry cooperation, we provided 155 companies with a total of 24,000 hours of mentoring services. İnovaTİM, Turkey's youngest and most innovative team, contributes to Turkey's national space program with over 3,000 students; project teams that developed model satellites, unmanned underwater vehicles, and many innovative designs represent our country successfully in international competitions. With TİM's long-standing work to strengthen the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, the support of our ministries, and the increasing competitive strength of our companies, we believe that our country will make even larger leaps in the index in the coming years and reach the position it deserves," he said. The Global Innovation Index, published for 14 years by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), benchmarks countries' innovation performance under 7 main components comprising 80 different indicators: "Institutions," "Human Capital and Research," "Infrastructure," "Market Sophistication," "Business Sophistication," "Knowledge and Technology Outputs," and "Creative Outputs." Made Significant Progress in 2021 Report The data sources of the indicators in the index include databases from international organizations such as UNESCO, OECD, World Bank, and World Trade Organization, ensuring accuracy and currency of statistical information. While Turkey, which ranked 51st in the 2020 report, had incomplete data for four indicators and outdated data for eight indicators in the index, in the 2021 report, eight indicators with incomplete and outdated data were updated. Significant progress was achieved in the 2021 report through work conducted by responsible institutions under the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Technology and TİM coordination. TİM undertook the task of preparing the "Global Innovation Index Turkey Roadmap and Action Plan" under the Investment Climate Improvement Coordination Board (YOİKK) led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. For this purpose, TİM established a task force in 2020. Within YOİKK, short, medium, and long-term actions were prepared for 69 of the 80 indicators included in the index. Technical work was conducted with 40 experts from 22 different institutions to improve a total of 69 indicators, classified as 38 short-term and 31 medium and long-term. TİM also organized consultation meetings with academic mentors of the Focused İnoSuit Program, establishing 8 different working groups for 35 medium and long-term indicators. As a result of meetings of TİM Focused İnoSuit Program working groups on the Global Innovation Index, to which more than 20 academics contributed, 34 medium and long-term action proposals were developed. The "Global Innovation Index Action Plan" was initiated last year as part of YOİKK's 2019-2020 Action Plan. In a meeting held on 30 June 2020, under the chairmanship of Vice President Fuat Oktay, a decision was made to accelerate work on raising Turkey's ranking in the Global Innovation Index and to establish a "Turkey Global Innovation Index Task Force" with representations from responsible organizations. Preparatory meetings were conducted by TİM under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. For monitoring action items, TİM launched the Turkey Global Innovation Index Coordination and Monitoring Platform (TÜRKİZ) for the first time in its history on 20 November 2020. Developments regarding action items have been reported monthly on the platform by institutional representatives since this date. In YOİKK steering committee meetings, TİM provides regular updates on developments recorded under "Creation of the Global Innovation Index Action Plan and Strategy" and activities planned for the next period. The Action Plan containing medium and long-term action items for improving Turkey's position will cover the 2021–2023 period. By the end of 2021, webinar series will be held to share global best practice examples, and the "Global Innovation Index Turkey Action Plan and Strategy" will be submitted to WIPO. Highlights from Global Innovation Index 2021 Report WIPO, in partnership with Portulans Institute and corporate partnership with Brazil's National Confederation of Industry (CNI), India's Confederation of Industry (CII), Ecopetrol (Colombia), and Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), released the 14th Global Innovation Index Report. The complete report, submitted to independent statistical audit by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, is available on the Global Innovation Index website (www.globalinnovationindex.org). According to the report, global investment in innovation reached an all-time high before the pandemic, with R&D growth at an extraordinary rate of 8.5 percent in 2019. Government support for economies with the highest R&D spending continued to grow in 2020. Those with the highest corporate R&D spending increased their R&D expenditures by approximately 10 percent last year. The number of scientific articles published globally increased 7.6 percent in 2020. This year, in addition to South Korea's rise from 10th to 5th place, France and China sustained the progress they recorded last year. Despite public and private sector financing focusing on health and biotechnology during the COVID-19 pandemic, innovation investments in other areas continued to be supported. Table 1: Upper-Middle-Income Group Economies Ranking Rank Global Innovation Index 2021 Upper-Middle-Income Group Economies (Total 34) 1 China (12) 2 Bulgaria (35) 3 Malaysia (36) 4 Turkey (41) 5 Thailand (43) 6 Russian Federation (45) 7 Montenegro (50) 8 Serbia (54) 9 Mexico (55) 10 Costa Rica (56) Table 2: Top 20 Countries Ranking Rank Global Innovation Index 2021 Rank Global Innovation Index 2021 1 Switzerland (ranked 1st in 2020) 11 France (12) 2 Sweden (2) 12 China (14) 3 United States (3) 13 Japan (16) 4 United Kingdom (4) 14 Hong Kong (China) (11) 5 Republic of Korea (10) 15 Israel (13) 6 Netherlands (5) 16 Canada (17) 7 Finland (7) 17 Iceland (21) 8 Singapore (8) 18 Austria (19) 9 Denmark (6) 19 Ireland (15) 10 Germany (9) 20 Norway (20)