The Innovation Efficiency Index

For the past five years, the Global Innovation Index has ranked countries’ ability to stimulate invention. Published by the French business school INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization, it compares 141 nations on more than 80 metrics, which are adjusted for population or GDP. Unsurprisingly, the top-performing countries are wealthy. But the report also analyzes which countries are best at making scientific advances or creating intellectual property despite disadvantages like unsophisticated markets and infrastructure. This “innovation efficiency” index makes a different group of countries stand out, as shown in the maps below and to the right.