Over the years scholars, researchers and knowledge seekers have continued with their efforts to find out what drives innovation and determine who the most innovative people in the world are.
Every year Global Innovation Index is published by Cornell University and the World Intellectual Property Organisation. There are different metrics used to measure innovation. Some are academic and theoretical, while others are more practical. Different metrics measure different aspects of product innovation, such as the novelty of a product, the creativity level of the people and the effectiveness of the idea-generating process. Metrics are categorized into two groups: input metrics, and output metrics. Input metrics measure the idea generation process effectiveness, as well as the creativity of the people who participate in it, along with the organizational culture that increases or reduces creativity. One of the metrics is the number of new patents and products developed in a country. An important metric is the number of ideas translated into successful business models.
The latest Global Innovation Index, which explores the impact of innovation-oriented policies on economic growth and development, ranks 140 countries and economies around the world using 79 indicators. The theme for 2015 index analysis was “Effective Innovation Policies for Development”. The report covered data on 79 indicators to analyse various innovation policies to check against claims of effective development policies. Generally, the GII report analyses the effectiveness of government efforts and their impact on the economy’s degree of development. Switzerland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Netherlands and United States of America are the top five economies on this index.
There is another internationally recognized innovation index which is published by Bloomberg, the world’s leading economic and commercial news site. The 2016 Bloomberg Innovation Index, which scores economies using factors like research and development spending and concentration of high-tech public companies, awards the highest ranking to South Korea which is said to rule the world of ideas. Bloomberg's 2015 ranking of the world's 50 most innovative countries focuses on six tangible activities that contribute to innovation. Bloomberg’s initial ranking began with over 200 economies, from which those that didn't report data for at least six of seven categories measured were eliminated, trimming the list to 84. Bloomberg released overall and category scores for the top 50 innovative economies.
The world's largest economy, the U.S., is No. 8 in the rankings. The placement of the world's second-largest economy, China, at No. 21 in the innovation index is not surprising, given its status as a developing country in which technologies are largely copied rather than created. The standings reflect the North-South divide in the global economy: Africa, with No. 46, Tunisia and No. 48, Morocco, and Latin America, with Argentina at No. 49, are scarcely represented on the top 50 list. Six of the top 10 economies hail from Europe, and three from Asia.
Ahead of Germany, Sweden, Japan and Switzerland, South Korea notches top scores worldwide for manufacturing value-added as well as for tertiary efficiency — a measure that includes enrollment in higher education and the concentration of science and engineering graduates. The country is ranked second for R&D intensity, high-tech density and patent activity and ranked sixth for researcher concentration.
It is easy to see that the top spots are hogged by countries that invest heavily in developing new technologies and products and have a fair share of the world's engineers. South Koreans also focus on institutional factors that encourage innovative behavior. South Korea's almost six-point edge on No. 2 Germany — and outpacing of neighbors Japan (No. 4) and China (No. 21) — underlines the importance of degree of economic competition felt by a nation. According to an expert, South Korea is "squeezed between low-wage China on the one hand and more technologically advanced Japan on the other, so there's this sense of anxiety, or a certain degree of urgency, about maintaining this performance. In short, the example of South Korea shows that if you are an innovative economy, you're going to tend to have higher productivity growth.
Where does Pakistan stand? Pakistan is ranked at 131 out of 141 countries in the Global Innovation Index. Pakistan scored a total of 23.07 point on the 100-point scale to rank at 131, just under Nicaragua and above countries like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Niger, Yemen and Nepal. Nigeria and Bangladesh stood above Pakistan in the innovation index. What keeps Pakistan backward? Interestingly, the Ministry of Science and Technology in a report to the National Assembly said that the reasons for the country's poor ranking in the Global Innovation Index include, among other factors, the low percentage of GDP expenditure for science and development and low standards of science education in our educational institutions.
Pakistan did even worse on the innovation input sub-index with an overall rank of 136. Indexes are divided into Institution, Human Capital & Research, Infrastructure, Market Sophistication, Business Sophistication, Knowledge & Technology outputs and Creative Outputs categories with three sub-sets in each area. Pakistan scored 37.1 in the Institution, 23.1 in Infrastructure, 35.8 in Market Sophistication, 22.5 in Business Sophistication, 20.2 in Knowledge & Technology outputs and 19.6 in Creative output areas.
The report shows that Pakistan’s performance and policies are consistently poor with regard to sustainable development and innovation. One of the major reasons is the devastating score in one of the most important area, Human Capital and Research, with a 12.8 score. Human Capital and Research area covers Education, Tertiary Education and Research and Development sub-sets with indicators such as expenditure on education, school life expectancy, tertiary enrollment, university ranking and expenditure on R&D. The report reveals that despite individual and private level efforts to lead Pakistan into Global Innovation arena through various different platforms Government policies are not helping much to improve the situation.
Innovation is happening in centers of excellence around the world faster than ever before. The best antidote to stagnation is innovation, the creation of products and services that make life better—whether it's air conditioning, vaccines, or text messaging. Every country wants to foster a culture of innovation, but it's not easy to do so. There are theories galore about what does work and what does not. But one thing is clear. Whether it is a nation or an individual, there must be love for entrepreneurship and experimentation. And for these to be translated into action, the government must provide a conducive environment. Unfortunately, the Pakistani state has miserably failed to perform its duty on this score.
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