New global rankings show little improvement
7 Aug 2018
The latest INSEAD Global Innovation Index (2018, Energizing the World with Innovation) ranks Australia 20th overall, up from 23rd last year - showing that Australia has seen little improvement on these global measures.
The rankings, which are published annually, showed Australia ranked 11th in terms of innovation input and 31st in innovation output, but when these figures are converted to innovation efficiency ratio, Australia dives to the same place as last year, 76th out of 122 countries assessed. This stark measure has been quoted for years now as a demonstration that while Australian remains brilliant at coming up with ideas but poor at translating them into locally produced products.
This sentiment was echoed in other measures. Australia was in the top 10 on education, ranking third, seventh on tertiary education, and 14th on R&D, but ranked poorly on innovation linkages (52nd), knowledge absorption (46th) and knowledge diffusion (92nd). Again suggesting that we have the know-how, but are not translating it into outcomes very well.
The full index can be found here.