The Philippines made significant progress 2019 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII), the global benchmark that helps policy makers better understand how to stimulate and measure innovative activity.

The Philippines, ranked 54—up 19 notches form the GII 2018—and gained most in terms of high-technology imports and exports.

Southeast Asia neighbor Vietnam also rose three places at 42nd.

Switzerland is the world’s most-innovative country followed by Sweden, United States, the Netherlands and United Kingdom while regional leaders India, South Africa, Chile, Israel, Singapore and China topped their income groups.

The GII 2019 ranks 129 economies based on 80 indicators, from traditional measurements like research and development investments and international patent and trademark applications to newer indicators including mobile-phone app creation and high-tech exports.

The GII 2019 also looks at the economic context. Despite signs of slowing economic growth, innovation continues to blossom, particularly in Asia, but pressures are looming from trade disruptions and protectionism. Sound government planning for innovation is critical for success, the report shows.

“The GII shows us that countries that prioritize innovation in their policies have seen significant increases in their rankings,” said World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) director general Francis Gurry. “The rise in the GII by economic powerhouses like China and India have transformed the geography of innovation and this reflects deliberate policy action to promote innovation.” (wipo.int(

• The global landscape of science, innovation, and technology has undergone important shifts over the last decades. Middle-income economies, especially in Asia, are increasingly contributing to global research and development (R&D) and international patenting rates via WIPO’s International Patent System;

• The GII 2019 shows that public R&D expenditures – particularly in some high-income economies – are growing slowly or not at all. This raises concerns given the public sector’s central role in funding basic R&D and blue-sky research, which are key to future innovations;

• Increased protectionism poses risks. If left uncontained, it will lead to a slowdown of growth in innovation productivity and diffusion across the globe;

• Innovation inputs and outputs are still concentrated in very few economies. Divides also persist in how effectively economies obtain return on their innovation investments. Some economies achieve more with less;

• Most top science and technology clusters are in the U.S., China, and Germany, whlie Brazil, India, Iran, the Russian Federation, and Turkey also feature in the top 100 list. The top five clusters: Tokyo-Yokohama (Japan); Shenzhen-Hong Kong, China (China); Seoul (Republic of Korea); Beijing (China); San Jose-San Francisco (U.S.).