India Rank improves to 48th in Global Innovation Index 2020

The Global Innovation Index (GII), released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), helps create an environment that evaluates innovation factors continuously. This year, it provides detailed innovation metrics for 131 economies. All economies covered represent 93.5% of the world’s population and 97.4% of the world’s GDP. The GII is composed of three indices: the overall GII, the Innovation Input Sub-Index, and the Innovation Output Sub-Index.

• The overall GII score is the average of the scores of the Input and Output Sub-Indices.
• The Innovation Input Sub-Index is comprised of five pillars that capture elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities: 1) Institutions, 2) Human capital and research, 3) Infrastructure, 4) Market sophistication, and 5) Business sophistication.
• The Innovation Output Sub-Index provides information about outputs that are the result of the innovative activities of economies. There are two output pillars: 6) Knowledge and technology outputs and 7) Creative outputs. Each pillar has three sub-pillars, and each sub-pillar is composed of individual indicators, totaling 80 this year

Six key findings of the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020:

• The COVID-19 crisis will impact innovation - leaders need to act as they move from containment to recovery
• Innovation finance declines in the current crisis, but there is hope too
• The global innovation landscape is shifting; China, Viet Nam, India, and the Philippines are consistently on the rise
• Stellar innovation performance found in developing economies
• Regional divides persist, yet some economies harbor significant innovation potential
•  Innovation is concentrated at the level of science and technology clusters in select high-income economies, plus mainly China

India’s ranking in the GII improves to 48th in 2020 as compared to 52nd rank in GII 2019. India has embarked on a journey towards creating an enabling environment by putting in place an ecosystem that breeds innovation. The Government of India has launched several significant initiatives for propelling innovation, such as the Start-up India initiative, Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi), Atal Tinkering Labs, new intellectual property rights (IPR) policy, Smart City Mission, Uchchatar Avishkaar Yojana, etc. All these initiatives, coupled with phenomenal research and innovation from the institutions, industry, and society, are cementing India’s position as an innovation and knowledge hub.

However, the financial dimension plays a critical role in fructifying these innovation efforts. Various fiscal incentives are offered by the Government of India’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) for R&D activities performed by institutions, academia, and industry for supporting, nurturing, and leading their innovations towards fruition.

In India, there has been a phenomenal growth of the private and foreign-owned private equity/venture capital (PE/VC) industry. The government has also played an important role in establishing and nurturing the industry segment by various fiscal concessions. Financial institutions such as the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) lend support for innovation and commercialization of innovative technologies, in addition to entrepreneurship.

This year’s Global Innovation Index (GII) report provides valuable insight into country innovation models and each country’s position on various innovation indicators. The Global Innovation Index has been instrumental to India in shaping its policies and designing an actionable agenda for innovation excellence.  The worldwide launch of the GII in India was a significant milestone for the country and a phenomenal recognition of our standing in innovation. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused widespread disruption by adversely impacting global businesses and economies.

As the world adjusts to its new normal, business leaders need to harness the most innovative technologies to help drive resilience and emerge from the crisis stronger. Governments across the world are in overdrive, designing fiscal incentives by slashing interest rates, tweaking taxes, and offering a moratorium on credit periods. The Government of India is also busy devising incentives for start-ups, entrepreneurs, and other high-risk businesses to help ease the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. All such initiatives will go a long way in assuaging the disruption of the Indian innovation ecosystem.

Please contact, for any query related to the content above, Ms. Shivani Mehrotra, Research Associate at shivani.mehrotra@phdcci.in with a cc to Dr S P Sharma, Chief Economist at spsharma@phdcci.in and Ms Kritika Bhasin Research Officer at kritika.bhasin@phdcci.in, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry.