Singapore keeps Asia-Pac's top spot on Global Innovation Index

SINGAPORE has maintained its position as the top-ranked country in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2015. In the global ranking, Singapore maintained its seventh position.

As a whole, the group of top 25 performers - all high income economies - remains largely unchanged from past editions, illustrating that the leaders' performance is hard to challenge, noted the report. Some exceptions are the Czech Republic (24th) which is in the top 25 and Ireland (8th) which is in the top 10 this year.

In terms of innovation quality - as measured by university performance, the reach of scholarly articles and the international dimension of patent applications - a few economies stand out. The US and the UK stay ahead of the pack, closely followed by Japan, Germany and Switzerland. Top-scoring middle-income economies on innovation quality are China, Brazil and India, with China increasingly outpacing the others.

The GII, co-published by Cornell University, Insead and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), surveys 141 economies around the world, using 79 indicators to gauge both innovative capabilities and measurable results.