India climbs to 57th position in Global Innovation Index ranking.

India was ranked 57th in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) rankings released recently. This marks the third consecutive year of India’s climb in GII rankings, starting in 2015. Switzerland, on the other hand, maintains its top stop for the second year in a row.

India has come a long way from 2015 when it was ranked 81st, 66th in 2016 and 60th in 2017. Even though India is ranked 57th globally, it occupies the top spot in the central and south Asian region.

China, along with India is on the climb, ranking 17th this year bettering its last year’s rank of 20th. India still needs to focus on some parameters to catch up to China.

According to the report, India’s weakness parameters include political stability & safety, ease of starting a business, overall education, ICT use, environmental performance, etc. There is a need to improve these parameters to move ahead in the rankings.

Chandrajit Banerjee, DG, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said, “Given its size and innovation development, India has the potential to make a true difference to the global innovation landscape in the years to come. The Indian government and CII are working closely with the GII team to further improve the Indian innovation performance.”

Looking at the global front, countries that featured in the top 10 list are: Switzerland (1), Netherlands (2), Sweden (3), United Kingdom (4), Singapore (5), United States (6), Finland (7), Denmark (8), Germany (9), Ireland (10).

GII has emerged as an important tool in judging the countries based on their innovation, making it vital for business executives, policymakers, and other stakeholders. It is being used to evaluate the progress of countries on a continual basis. GII is jointly developed by Cornell University, INSEAD, along with World International Property Organisation (WIPO).

India’s Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is one of its knowledge partners that helps with the annual rankings.

GII ranks 126 economies based on 80 parameters, including, ease of starting a business, intellectual property filing rates, political stability & safety, online creativity, etc. It is now in its 11th year of publishing ranks since its inception in 2007.