On September 20 Beijing time, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021. China ranks the 12^th place, ascending two spots from 2020.

China is edging closer to top 10

Since 2013, China has moved up the GII ranking steadily for 9 consecutive years with strong momentum.

In terms of the innovation input sub-index, China represents the global leader in two indexes, Trade, diversification, and market scale,and Knowledge workers.China ranks high in several subdivision indicators, including the score on PISA scales in reading, math and science, Domestic market scale, Percentage of firms offering formal training, Domestic industry diversification, Average expenditure of the top three global companies by R&D, Average score of QS university ranking, top 3, Industrial cluster development, Gross capital formation as percent of GDP, and GERD % financed by business.

In terms of innovation outputs, China's advantages are concentrated in Intangible assets, Knowledge creation, and Knowledge impact. Specifically, subdivision indicators such as native patent and trademark filings, and Creative goods exportsas percent of total trade are global leading indicators. In 2021, the sub-index of Knowledge diffusion has made significant progress Especially the subdivision indicator of Intellectual property receiptsas percent of total tradehas made continuous progress, indicating that China is gradually transforming from a large country of intellectual property in-licensing to a large country of intellectual property creation.

Global innovation landscape is fast-changing

According to the GII 2021, Switzerland ranks first for the 11^th consecutive year; Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea rank 2^nd to 5^th respectively. China ranks 12^th, first among the middle-income economies, surpassing developed economies such as Japan, Israel, and Canada. South Korea moved from 10^th in 2020 to 5^th in 2021, with a distinct uptrend. Middle-income economies such as Turkey (41^st), Vietnam (44^th), and India (46^th) have risen significantly in the ranking in the past 10 years and are changing the global innovation landscape.

In the global ranking of "Top science and technology clusters", Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan, Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou in China, Beijing, Seoul, and San Jose–San Francisco in the US rank in the top five. Compared with last year, the ranking of Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (2^nd) remains unchanged, while the rankings of Beijing (3^rd), Shanghai (8^th), Nanjing (18^th), Hangzhou (21^st), etc. all have distinctly increased.

(Source: the website of the CNIPA)