India’s Performance in the Global Innovation Index 2017

INTRODUCTION

In a couple of weeks, I shall be posting a detailed analysis of the methodology employed by the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2017 Report. But prior to that, I felt it would be beneficial to provide readers with a brief synopsis of India’s performance in the said report.

Report is accessible here.

Over the course of this post, I intend to cover the following:

1. Basic Data Regarding The GII
2. India’s Performance In Isolation
3. India’s Performance in Comparison to the Best, Worst and China.

BASIC DATA

Essentially, the GII is a report generated by WIPO, Cornell University and INSEAD that attempts to measure and rank the innovation capacity and potential of participant countries (127 in all). The idea is to provide a robust set of data for policy makers to rely upon, while framing innovation ecosystems.

Next, we need to look at the kind of data that was taken into account.

Two kinds of data were taken into account:

Input (“Innovation Input Sub-Index”):

The data used to arrive at this figure involves variables that affect innovation, as opposed to those that measure the results.

The broad areas looked into were:

1. Institutions
2. Human Capital and Research
3. Infrastructure
4. Market Sophistication
5. Business Sophistication

There were a number of sub-variables under the broad heading outlined above, but I do not wish to delve into details at this stage. In the promised follow up post, I will surely explain each of the factors in much greater detail. In the current post, I only intend to provide a superficial glance of the mechanics, such that we can, at least to a certain degree, comprehend the data presented below.

Output (“Innovation Output Sub-Index”):

The “Innovation Output Sub-Index” was arrived at using data that measures results of innovation (e.g. number of patent filings), rather than the factors that cause it.

The broad areas considered were:

1. Knowledge And Technology Outputs
2. Creative Outputs

Again, don’t be too bothered with the terminology. Just get a broad sense of it.

Moving on, the final GII rankings are based on a final figure arrived at by calculating the average of the “Innovation Input Sub-Index” and the “innovation Output Sub-Index”.

The “Innovation Efficiency Ratio” is the ratio of the Input and Output Sub-indices. Basically, it is a measure of the output generated with respect to the input.

Now that we have a brief idea about the GII, let us now look at the actual data.

INDIA’S PERFORMANCE IN ISOLATION

You can access the detailed report at INDIA COUNTRY REPORT.

India is the leader in the Central and Southern Asia Region.

The following is India’s rank under each of the broad areas covered under the Sub-Indices:

Apart from the basic overview provided above, the report also identifies weaknesses and strengths in each economy. India’s weaknesses and strengths are as follows:

Weaknesses:

1. Ease of Starting a Business (Rank 114)
2. Ease of Resolving Insolvency (Rank 111)
3. Ease of Paying Taxes (Rank 118)
4. Education (Rank 114)
5. Pupil-Teacher Ratio, Secondary (Rank 104)
6. Tertiary Level Inbound Mobility (Rank 102)
7. Environmental Performance (Rank 108)
8. New Business Density (Rank 100)
9. Global Entertainment and Media Market (Rank 61)
10. Video Uploads on YouTube (Rank 68)

Strengths:

1. Graduates in Science and Engineering (Rank 10)
2. Global R&D Companies, Average Expenditure Top 3 (Rank 14)
3. QS University Ranking Average Score Top 3 Universities (Rank 21)
4. Gross Capital Formation (Rank 12)
5. Ease of Protecting Minority Investors (Rank 13)
6. Trade, Competition and Market Scale (Rank 16)
7. Domestic Market Scale (Rank 91)
8. Citable Documents H Index (Rank 21)
9. Growth Rate of GDP Per Person Engaged (Rank 5)
10. ICT Services Exports (Rank 1)
11. Creative Goods Exports (Rank 18)

INDIA’S PERFORMANCE IN COMPARISON

You can compare economies with a tool available here.

India-China

India-Switzerland (GII Rank 1)

India-Yemen (GII Rank 127)

Chief-Source: Global Innovation Index Website

Feature image from here.