Singapore has reclaimed its number three rank in the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index, after leaping three spots. However, economies across Asia-Pacific showed a mixed picture of progress.
Singapore’s rise against global peers was underpinned by stronger showings in productivity and patent activity, while the city-state also retained a world-beating ranking in tertiary efficiency. For the latter category, Bloomberg’s rankings take into account factors such as graduation rates of first-degree earners and the share of the labor force that’s made up of new science and engineering graduates.
Singapore’s high standing in the index speaks to its long-term focus on adapting to an aging population as well as a tighter labor market, as it guns for higher productivity. «We see more (innovation) in the pipeline with even more use of automation in multiple industries. There’s a lot that’s on the way in that regard -- and being willing to experiment (even in finance),» said David Mann, chief economist for Standard Chartered in Singapore, who was quoted in «Bloomberg».
Most-Improved
Both Singapore and Vietnam clinched the most-improved title in the region, with the latter climbing three spots to number 57 after it first qualified for a ranking last year. Vietnam was hailed an «e-commerce leader» for trimming regulations and improving cross-border trade, according to a post by Rebecca Sta Maria, executive director of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat, ahead of the Index release.
«What also works are reforms that focus on education, skills, infrastructure, and social security and address barriers that prevent women, small businesses, and traditionally marginalized groups from fully participating in the digital economy,» she wrote.
Top Spot Replaced By Germany
The annual Bloomberg Innovation Index analyzes dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies. The Index, in its eighth year, was released just before the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where innovation will be a key theme of meetings from 21 January to 24 January.
After a six-year streak at the top, South Korea was unseated from its best-in-world spot by Germany -- but only just. Japan and New Zealand were among those losing ground in innovation against global peers, while Vietnam showed a big gain, according to the results.
Mixed Fortunes
The world’s biggest economies had opposite fortunes, with the U.S. dropping one level to No. 9 and China improving by one spot to No. 15. The U.S. was ranked No. 1 when the Innovation Index debuted in 2013.
The news wasn’t great for advanced economies in the Asia-Pacific, either, with Japan dropping three spots and Australia falling one. New Zealand’s five-spot decline was the biggest slide of any economy ranked in this year’s Innovation Index, mainly due to a drop in productivity and value-added manufacturing.
The 2020 ranking process started with more than 200 economies. Each was scored on a 0-100 scale based on seven equally weighted categories. Nations that didn’t report data for at least six categories were dropped off the rankings, trimming the total list to 105. Bloomberg then publishes the top 60 economies.
