New processes and inventions drive economies forward. But the early indicators for future innovation activities are not very promising. Germany is among the top ten – for now.
Germany has lost one place in the innovation index of the UN Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo). The Federal Republic is now in 9th place among the most innovative economies in the world.
South Korea overtook Germany in 2023. This was due not only to high spending on research and development but also to cultural innovations such as the export hit Korean pop music (K-Pop), said WIPO Director General Daren Tang.
Switzerland leader
As in the previous year, Switzerland, Sweden and the USA are in the top places. Singapore, Great Britain, South Korea, Finland and the Netherlands were also rated better than Germany. China moved up one place to 11th place.
The index takes 78 criteria into account. These include the business environment, education and research, investments and creativity, for example in industrial design.
Germany’s strengths and weaknesses
Germany performed particularly well in terms of research investments and patents. However, it was rated particularly poorly in terms of the share of education expenditure in gross domestic product and the use of information technology.
Leading indicators for future innovation activities have weakened significantly worldwide, the authors write. For example, the growth of research and development spending has slowed. In 2023, fewer international patents were filed than in the previous year for the first time since 2009.
Collapse in venture capital
After the boom in 2020/21, venture capital investments fell by 36 percent in 2022 and by a further 39 percent in 2023. The authors attribute this to, among other things, rising interest rates. In the pandemic period of 2020/21, however, many companies reconsidered their growth strategies and many countries invested in digitalization.
“Creativity is needed at every level – from the local to the global – and in all social, economic and environmental sectors to reinvent globalization and reconcile sustainability, equality and prosperity,” WIPO quoted one of the editors, Bruno Lanvin, as saying.
Source: Stern
