Singapore ranks second after Switzerland in world's top innovation leaders

SINGAPORE has emerged among the world's top innovation leaders, coming in second to Switzerland.

Belgium was ranked third, and Germany fourth in the Innovation Indicator 2017, which analysed the innovative strength of 35 national economies on behalf of acatech - the German National Academy of Science and Engineering - and BDI - the Federation of German Industries.

According to the study, Germany showed clear weaknesses, especially in digitalisation - which was analysed for the first time by the innovation indicator 2017. Germany ranked 17th in this field, lagging far behind other industrial nations such as the US or Great Britain.

"Internationally, Germany is still an important and respected location for innovation, and has even moved up a place compared to the innovation indicator 2015," said Marion Weissenberger-Eibl, director of the Fraunhofer ISI, which compiled the data with the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW).

"However, this good result should not obscure the fact that Switzerland, Singapore and Belgium are far more innovative. For Germany to remain competitive, it must catch up, above all in the field of digitalisation - the Innovation Indicator shows Germany performs very poorly in this promising future field."