Innovation Index: Bangladesh still at 116th

Bangladesh's ranking in the Global Innovation Index has remained unchanged at 116th out of 132 countries.

The country's score stood at 20.2, according to the ranking prepared by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

The 14th edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII), which was released yesterday, captures the innovation ecosystem performance of the economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

In South Asia, India improved its ranking by two places to 46th. Sri Lanka moved up six notches to 95th, and Pakistan advanced eight spots to 99th. Nepal slipped 16 spots to 111th.

Switzerland topped the list. Sweden came second, the US third, the UK fourth, and South Korea fifth.

The Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, and Denmark, and Germany are included in the top 10.

Bangladesh ranked 122th in the institutions pillar among the countries, 128th in the human capital and research pillar, 95th in the infrastructure pillar, and 95th in the market sophistication pillar.

It is 122nd in the business sophistication pillar, 92nd in the knowledge and technology outputs pillar and 123rd in the creative outputs pillar.

"This year's edition is being released in the middle of a continuing Covid-19 pandemic, which has taken a grim toll on lives and livelihoods, but also given us many examples of human ingenuity, resilience and adaptability," said Daren Tang, director-general of the WIPO, in the foreword of the report.

"Indeed, the GII 2021 finds that the innovative sectors of the global economy have remained strong, despite severe disruptions."

To overcome the pandemic and build back better, nations need to continue supporting the translation of great ideas into game-changing products, he said.

"How do we do this? This is the ultimate goal of the GII: to discover what works best in producing an ecosystem where people can achieve their highest potential, innovating and creating to improve lives everywhere."