Germany drops out of the world's top 10 innovation countries

Germany has slipped to 11th place in the United Nations innovation rankings, behind China, due to falling investment and slowing research.

According to a VNA reporter in Germany, in the United Nations' innovation rankings just announced on September 16, Germany dropped to 11th place and is now behind China.

The United Nations Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has warned that global innovation in research and creation is on the decline. Germany has fallen out of the top 10 in the UN's global innovation rankings and is now ranked 11th, behind China.

Switzerland continues to lead the way in the recently released Global Innovation Index (GII) report, as it has since 2011, followed by Sweden and the US, while China entered the top 10 most innovative economies for the first time.

At the same time, the outlook for global innovation capacity has become bleak due to declining investment. “The global innovation engine is not running at full capacity,” said WIPO Director General Daren Tang.

The report’s authors warned of a slowdown in innovation spending. The growth rate of spending on research and development (R&D) has slowed to 2.9% in 2024, down from 4.4% in 2023. For 2025, WIPO forecasts a rise of just 2.3%.

Real corporate spending on research and development grew by just 1% due to high inflation – well below the 4.6% average of the previous decade. Venture capital investments also showed uneven growth and were increasingly concentrated in the US in the field of artificial intelligence.

After Switzerland, Sweden and the US, South Korea and Singapore are at the top of the rankings, followed by the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and China. Germany dropped from 9th to 11th place.

The report also highlights a group of middle-income emerging economies that are climbing the rankings. In addition to China, these include India (38th) and Türkiye (43rd).

The index, published annually since 2007, is considered an important measure of the innovation power of economies. In its 18th edition, nearly 140 countries were evaluated based on about 80 indicators, including research and development spending, venture capital deals, high-tech exports, and the number of intellectual property applications.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/duc-roi-khoi-nhom-10-quoc-gia-hang-dau-the-gioi-ve-doi-moi-sang-tao-post1062239.vnp