While last year Estonia was ranked among the world’s 20 most innovative economies for the first time, in this year’s ranking Estonia is 16th out of 132 countries. Estonia’s strengths are highlighted in the report first of all in e-governance, import of information and communication services, venture capital transactions and the value of unicorns in relation to GDP. According to the report one of Estonia’s weaknesses is the income from transactions with intellectual property.
For the thirteenth year in a row, Switzerland is the country with the most innovative economy also in 2023, followed by Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
As for Estonia’s closest neighbors, in this year’s ranking Finland is 6th, Latvia 37th and Lithuania 34th.
The Global Innovation Index (GII) is compiled annually by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and it is a leading reference for measuring an economy’s innovation ecosystem performance. The index is based on a variety of indicators assessing, among other things, the political, institutional and business environments of countries as well as their education and research situations.
The 2023 report can be found online at https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo-pub-2000-2023-en-main-report-global-innovation-index-2023-16th-edition.pdf.
