The Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), ranks 133 economies based on their innovation capabilities and performance. This year’s report highlights shifts in global innovation leadership, with a focus on emerging economies challenging traditional leaders.

To summarize the results of this year’s GII, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu visualized each economy’s score using a global heatmap. Lower scores are shown as darker shades of blue, transitioning to green and then yellow as score increases.

The GII measures each economy based on seven underlying innovation pillars, which altogether comprise 78 indicators. These are summarized in the table below:

The overall GII scores (which are what we’ve shown in the graphic above) are based on the average scores from these seven pillars.

The following table includes all of the data we used to create this graphic. For the 14th consecutive year, Switzerland was named the world’s most innovative country.

RankNameScore1???????? Switzerland67.52???????? Sweden64.53???????? U.S.62.44???????? Singapore61.25???????? UK616???????? South Korea60.97???????? Finland59.48???????? Netherlands58.89???????? Germany58.110???????? Denmark57.111???????? China56.312???????? France55.413???????? Japan54.114???????? Canada52.915???????? Israel52.716???????? Estonia52.317???????? Austria50.318???????? Hong Kong50.119???????? Ireland5020???????? Luxembourg49.121???????? Norway49.122???????? Iceland48.523???????? Australia48.124???????? Belgium47.725???????? New Zealand45.926???????? Italy45.327???????? Cyprus45.128???????? Spain44.929???????? Malta44.830???????? Czech Republic4431???????? Portugal43.732???????? UAE42.833???????? Malaysia40.534???????? Slovenia40.235???????? Lithuania40.136???????? Hungary39.637???????? Türkiye3938???????? Bulgaria38.539???????? India38.340???????? Poland3741???????? Thailand36.942???????? Latvia36.443???????? Croatia36.344???????? Viet Nam36.245???????? Greece36.246???????? Slovakia34.347???????? Saudi Arabia33.948???????? Romania33.449???????? Qatar32.950???????? Brazil32.751???????? Chile32.652???????? Serbia32.353???????? Philippines31.154???????? Indonesia30.655???????? Mauritius30.656???????? Mexico30.457???????? Georgia30.458???????? North Macedonia29.959???????? Russia29.760???????? Ukraine29.561???????? Colombia29.262???????? Uruguay29.163???????? Armenia2964???????? Iran28.965???????? Montenegro28.966???????? Morocco28.867???????? Mongolia28.768???????? Moldova28.769???????? South Africa28.370???????? Costa Rica28.371???????? Kuwait28.172???????? Bahrain27.673???????? Jordan27.574???????? Oman27.175???????? Peru26.776???????? Argentina26.477???????? Barbados26.178???????? Kazakhstan25.779???????? Jamaica25.780???????? Bosnia & Herzegovina25.581???????? Tunisia25.482???????? Panama24.783???????? Uzbekistan24.784???????? Albania24.585???????? Belarus24.286???????? Egypt23.787???????? Botswana23.188???????? Brunei Darussalam22.889???????? Sri Lanka22.690???????? Cabo Verde22.391???????? Pakistan2292???????? Senegal2293???????? Paraguay21.994???????? Lebanon21.595???????? Azerbaijan21.396???????? Kenya2197???????? Dominican Republic20.898???????? El Salvador20.699???????? Kyrgyzstan20.4100???????? Bolivia20.2101???????? Ghana20102???????? Namibia20103???????? Cambodia19.9104???????? Rwanda19.7105???????? Ecuador19.3106???????? Bangladesh19.1107???????? Tajikistan18.6108???????? Trinidad and Tobago18.4109???????? Nepal18.1110???????? Madagascar17.9111???????? Laos17.8112???????? Côte d'Ivoire17.5113???????? Nigeria17.1114???????? Honduras16.7115???????? Algeria16.2116???????? Zambia15.7117???????? Togo15.6118???????? Zimbabwe15.6119???????? Benin15.4120???????? Tanzania15.3121???????? Uganda14.9122???????? Guatemala14.6123???????? Cameroon14.4124???????? Nicaragua14125???????? Myanmar13.8126???????? Mauritania13.2127???????? Burundi13.2128???????? Mozambique13.1129???????? Burkina Faso12.8130???????? Ethiopia12.3131???????? Mali11.8132???????? Niger11.2133???????? Angola10.2

Similar to last year, the U.S. takes third place in the GII. It ranked the highest in Market Sophistication (#1) and Business Sophistication (#2), but its overall score was dragged down by its lower rank in Infrastructure (#30).

A key theme of this year’s GII is innovation overperformers, which are countries that perform above expectation relative to their level of development.

The top three in this regard are India, Moldova, and Vietnam. All three of these economies have overperformed over the past 14 years since 2011.

The GII 2024 also provides insight into the current state of global innovation. Here are some of the highlights:

If you enjoyed this post, check out this ranking of the top companies by number of AI patents granted on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.