Technology

12 Years of the World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Countries

Published

5 months ago

December 20, 2022

Gilbert Fontana

Featured Creator

Article/Editing:

Omri Wallach

Tracking the top 10 most innovative countries since 2011

12 Years of the World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Countries

Every year, the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) scores countries on how innovative their economies are with the Global Innovation Index.

The Index scores countries on indicators of a strong innovation economy. These include R&D spend, general market strength, patent systems and output, and local labor capital. And though a few countries consistently rank high, others are moving in and out of the top 10 rankings.

This graphic from Gilbert Fontana details the top 10 most innovative countries in the UN’s WIPO Global Innovation Index from 2011-2022.

Top 10 Innovative Countries (2011–2022)

Over the last 12 years, Switzerland has ranked at the top of the innovation index on the strength of its IP laws and local economic strength.

But much of the remaining top 10 have been in flux:

Most Innovative Country Rank by Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Switzerland	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Sweden	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	3	2	2	2	3
Singapore	3	3	8	7	7	6	7	5	8	8	8	7
Hong Kong	4	8	7	10	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Finland	5	4	6	4	6	5	8	7	6	7	7	9
Denmark	6	7	9	8	10	8	6	8	7	6	9	10
U.S.	7	10	5	6	5	4	4	6	3	3	3	2
Canada	8	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Netherlands	9	6	4	5	4	9	3	2	4	5	6	5
UK	10	5	3	2	2	3	5	4	5	4	4	4
Ireland	n/a	9	10	n/a	8	7	10	10	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Luxembourg	n/a	n/a	n/a	9	9	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Germany	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	9	9	9	9	10	8
Israel	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	n/a	n/a	n/a
South Korea	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	5	6

In addition to Switzerland, seven other countries have been in the top 10 in each year, including Sweden, Singapore, and the United States.

Others have dropped out of the top 10, such as Canada in 2012 and Ireland in 2018. But that let up-and-comers like South Korea and Germany grab one of the top 10 spots. In total, 14 countries have ranked in the top 10 most innovative countries in the world over the time period covered in the visualization.

To learn more about the 2022 innovation rankings and how countries around the world ranked, check out The Most Innovative Countries in the World 2022.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

Related Topics:united kingdom asia US uk north america south korea by country middle east oil Sweden united states by year switzerland europe

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Technology

Visualizing the Top U.S. States for AI Jobs

Nearly 800,000 AI jobs were posted in the U.S. throughout 2022. View this graphic to see a breakdown by state.

Published

4 days ago

May 26, 2023

Marcus Lu

Visualizing the Top U.S. States for AI Jobs

Much ink has been spilled over fears that artificial intelligence (AI) will eliminate jobs in the economy. While some of those fears may be well-founded, red-hot interest in AI innovation is creating new jobs as well.

This graphic visualizes data from Lightcast, a labor market analytics firm, which shows how many AI-related jobs were posted in each state throughout 2022.

In total there were 795,624 AI jobs posted throughout the year, of which 469,925 (59%) were in the top 10. The full tally is included in the table below.

Rank	State	Number of job postings	% of total
1	California	142,154	17.9%
2	Texas	66,624	8.4%
3	New York	43,899	5.5%
4	Massachusetts	34,603	4.3%
5	Virginia	34,221	4.3%
6	Florida	33,585	4.2%
7	Illinois	31,569	4.0%
8	Washington	31,284	3.9%
9	Georgia	26,620	3.3%
10	Michigan	25,366	3.2%
11	North Carolina	23,854	3.0%
12	New Jersey	23,447	2.9%
13	Colorado	20,421	2.6%
14	Pennsylvania	20,397	2.6%
15	Arizona	19,514	2.5%
16	Ohio	19,208	2.4%
17	Maryland	16,769	2.1%
18	Minnesota	11,808	1.5%
19	Tennessee	11,173	1.4%
20	Missouri	10,990	1.4%
21	Oregon	10,811	1.4%
22	Washington, D.C.	9,606	1.2%
23	Indiana	9,247	1.2%
24	Connecticut	8,960	1.1%
25	Wisconsin	8,879	1.1%
26	Alabama	7,866	1.0%
27	Kansas	7,683	1.0%
28	Arkansas	7,247	0.9%
29	Utah	6,885	0.9%
30	Nevada	6,813	0.9%
31	Idaho	6,109	0.8%
32	Oklahoma	5,719	0.7%
33	Iowa	5,670	0.7%
34	South Carolina	4,928	0.6%
35	Louisiana	4,806	0.6%
36	Kentucky	4,536	0.6%
37	Nebraska	4,032	0.5%
38	Delaware	3,503	0.4%
39	New Mexico	3,357	0.4%
40	Rhode Island	2,965	0.4%
41	New Hampshire	2,719	0.3%
42	Hawaii	2,550	0.3%
43	Mississippi	2,548	0.3%
44	Maine	2,227	0.3%
45	South Dakota	2,195	0.3%
46	Vermont	1,571	0.2%
47	North Dakota	1,227	0.2%
48	Alaska	970	0.1%
49	West Virginia	887	0.1%
50	Montana	833	0.1%
51	Wyoming	769	0.1%

The following chart adds some context to these numbers. It shows how the percentage of AI job postings in some of the top states has changed since 2010.

We can see that California quickly became the primary destination for AI jobs in the early 2010s, presumably as Silicon Valley companies began developing the technology.

California’s share has since declined, with a significant number of jobs seemingly moving to Texas. In fact, many tech companies are relocating to Texas to avoid California’s relatively higher taxes and cost of living.

The 10 Most In-Demand Specialized Skills

Lightcast also captured the top 10 specialized skills that were required for AI-related jobs. These are listed in the table below.

Skill	Frequency (number of postings)	Frequency (% of postings)
Python	296,662	37%
Computer Science	260,333	33%
SQL	185,807	23%
Data Analysis	159,801	20%
Data Science	157,855	20%
Amazon Web Services	155,615	19%
Agile Methodology	152,965	19%
Automation	138,791	17%
Java	133,856	17%
Software Engineering	133,286	17%