Bangladesh slips further in Global Innovation Index

Bangladesh climbed 14 notches to 102nd spot in 2022, before falling to 105th the next year

Bangladesh has slipped further to 106th position among 133 economies in the Global Innovation Index 2024 after slipping three notches a year ago, indicating a slight deterioration in its innovation capabilities.

The 17th edition of the index, which ranks economies based on their innovation capabilities, was released yesterday by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Bangladesh climbed 14 notches to the 102nd spot in 2022, before falling to 105th the next year. Before that, it had been stuck at 116th in the index during 2018-21.

Switzerland with a score of 67.5 out of 100, ranks first in the GII for the 14th consecutive year, while Sweden and the United States maintain 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively. Singapore (4th) moves further into the top 5, followed by the United Kingdom (5th).

With a score of 19.1, Bangladesh ranked 22nd among the 38 lower-middle-income group economies and 8th among the 10 economies in central and southern Asia. The country scored 20.2 in the 2023 index.

In central and southern Asia, India continues to lead, moving one place forward to 39th position in GII 2024 from the previous year, and is also among the fastest 10-year risers.

In South Asia, the world’s most populous country was followed by Sri Lanka at 89th, Pakistan at 91st and Nepal at 109th.

“In 2023, we saw a decline in R&D expenditures, a reduction in scientific publications, and a scaling back of venture capital investments to pre-pandemic levels,” said World Intellectual Property Organisation Director General Daren Tang.

The Global Innovation Index consists of roughly 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs, the GII aims to capture the multidimensional facets of innovation.

The innovation input sub-index captures elements of the economy that enable and facilitate innovative activities and is grouped into five pillars: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication.

The output sub-index captures elements of the economy that enable and facilitate innovative activities and is divided into two pillars: knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.

Bangladesh’s performance on the index

The 2024 report states that “Bangladesh produces more innovation outputs relative to its level of innovation investments.”

The country ranks 114th in innovation inputs which is the same as last year. Meanwhile, it ranks 92nd in innovation outputs, down from 89th last year.

Among the seven pillars, Bangladesh ranks the highest at 86th in infrastructure, 88th in creative outputs, and 92nd in both market sophistication, and knowledge and technology outputs.

Bangladesh ranks lowest in human capital and research (128th), business sophistication (126th) and institutions (108th).

However, the country performs below the lower-middle-income group average in institutions, human capital and research, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, as highlighted in the report.

Under the sub-pillars of the seven pillars, the report highlighted labour productivity growth, GDP/unit of energy use and loans from microfinance institutions as Bangladesh’s main innovation strengths.

Meanwhile, ICT services imports, expenditure on education, joint venture/strategic alliance deals, tertiary inbound mobility and graduates in science and engineering are major the country’s weaknesses.