According to a study by the United Nations (UN), Switzerland is once again the most innovative country in the world. It has defended its top position in the 2022 innovation country comparison ahead of Sweden and the USA.
Switzerland achieved the top spot for the thirteenth time in a row, as the UN Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced in Geneva on Wednesday. The general business environment, the use of new technologies, patents and technical know-how contributed to the position.
Small and medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland in particular have to be innovative due to a lack of natural resources and a small domestic market, as the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property pointed out a year ago. Science has been launching successful start-ups for a long time.
According to the UN organisation, countries with particularly good innovation performance include India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Brazil. It should be noted that European countries are still the most strongly represented among the top 20. "They are not losing momentum," said WIPO expert Sacha Wunsch-Vincent.
Concerns about venture capital
However, according to WIPO, the significant decline in venture capital employed could have negative consequences for the innovative strength of many countries. in 2022, venture capital had plummeted by 40% compared to the previous year.
The trend even intensified in the first half of 2023 with a minus of 47% compared to the same period of the previous year. The main reason, according to WIPO Director General Daren Tang, is rising interest rates. "It's the end of cheap money," said Wunsch-Vincent.
The ranking is based on 80 criteria such as investment, education, government research spending and development of online products. A total of 132 economies were analysed. Burundi, Iraq and Guinea ranked 130th, 131st and 132nd respectively. The United Kingdom made it to fourth place ahead of Singapore. China slipped one place to twelfth.