ZAGREB, 3 Oct (Hina) - Croatia ranks 43rd out of 133 economies according to the 17th edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII), presented by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the State Intellectual Property Office (DZIV) said.
In previous years, Croatia ranked 41st and 42nd, but due to year-on-year differences in data availability and changes in methodology, the results are not fully comparable.
Based on past results, it can be concluded that Croatia has been stable on the rankings over the years, ranging between 41st and 45th place, according to the DZIV.
According to this year’s GII, Croatia ranks 37th among 51 high-income countries and 27th among 39 economies in Europe.
In terms of GDP, Croatia's innovation performance is lower than expected for its level of development. However, when it comes to efficiently translating investments in innovation into innovation outputs, Croatia has improved its results, producing more innovation outputs relative to the level of these investments.
Of the seven areas covered by the GII, Croatia has advanced and is best ranked in the areas of infrastructure, where it holds 23rd place, knowledge and technology outputs at 32nd place, and human capital and research at 41st place. It has also improved in its weakest areas: institutions (68th), business sophistication (54th), and creative outputs (50th).
According to this year's GII, Switzerland ranks first for the 14th consecutive year, followed by Sweden, and the United States.
The 17th edition of the WIPO GII covers 133 countries and includes the top 100 global science and technology clusters.
The 2024 edition points to a significant easing of leading indicators of future innovation activity, including a decline in innovation investments compared to the 2020-22 period.
Due to higher interest rates, venture capital financing decreased by around 40% in 2023, and there has been a noticeable drop in research and development spending, as well as a decline in international patent applications and scientific publications, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
