September 29, 2022
The Republic of Korea ranked as the Best Innovator in Asia for the Second Consecutive Year
- No.1 in seven indicators of innovation capability and 6th worldwide in the 2022 Global Innovation Index -
The Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on September 28, 2022 that the Republic of Korea (ROK) ranked 1st as the most innovative country in Asia for the second consecutive year and 6th worldwide in the 2022 Global Innovation Index (GII) published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nation on matters related to intellectual property.
Since 2007, WIPO and INSEAD have measured WIPO Member States’s innovative capabilities which is an important factor of economic development and published the results in their annual Global Innovation Index. A total of 132 countries are evaluated according to seven GII pillars (five input and two output categories*) and 81 indicators.
* Input (5) : Institutions, Human Capital and Research, Infrastructure, Market Sophistication, Business Sophistication. Output (2) : Knowledge and Technology Outputs, Creative Outputs.
Particularly in 2022, the ROK ranked No.1 in the Human Resource and Research pillar for the fourth consecutive year and No.1 in seven specific indicators**. Moreover, there was a 6.3% year-on-year increase in domestic patents applications and a 3.2% year-on-year increase in PCT applications. WIPO has highlighted that the ROK is adept at effectively translating innovation investments into high-quality innovation outputs and performs above other countries of similar income levels.
**Patent application per GDP, PCT per GDP, Industrial design application per GDP, Researchers per population, Research talent in businesses, Government online service, and E-participation.
These accomplishments is the result of continued investment into the future by the government and corporations. Especially, such investments have allowed active creation of intangible assets and dissemination of knowledge despite the recent difficult economic environment worldwide.
In general, the ROK’s overall ranking has seen an increase from 21th (2012) to 10th (2020) and finally 6th (2022) among 48 high-income countries featured in the GII. Switzerland ranked 1st, followed by the USA, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, and the ROK. Among the Asian countries, Singapore, China, and Japan ranked 7th, 11th and 13th, respectively.
