Technology

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

Published

2 years 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.

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Technology

Ranked: Countries Investing the Most in R&D

Amid the rapid pace of technological innovation, we show R&D investment by country as a percentage of GDP.

Published

23 hours ago

April 17, 2025

Dorothy Neufeld

Circle graphic showing R&D investment by country as a share of GDP.

Visualizing R&D Investment by Country

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

Israel spent $28.3 billion on research and development (R&D) in 2023 to reach 6.3% of GDP—more than double the OECD average.
South Korea falls next in line, with an R&D intensity of 5% of GDP, driven mainly from private sector funding.
Meanwhile, the U.S. spent 3.4% of GDP on R&D, amounting to $823.4 billion, the highest level in the world.

Globally, research and development (R&D) spending totaled $2.8 trillion in 2023—growing from $1 trillion, adjusted for inflation, since the turn of the century.

Overall, Asian economies accounted for 46% of this spending, followed by North America (29%) and Europe (21%). As a critical driver of innovation, R&D investment shapes countless industries, from defense and healthcare to tech and green energy.

This graphic shows R&D investment as a percentage of GDP by country, based on data from the OECD.

Ranked: The R&D Intensity of OECD Countries

Below, we show OECD countries by R&D spending as a share of GDP in 2023, based on the most recent data available:

Country	R&D Spending as a % of GDP 2023
🇮🇱 Israel	6.3
🇰🇷 South Korea	5.0
🇹🇼 Taiwan	4.0
🇸🇪 Sweden	3.6
🇺🇸 United States	3.4
🇯🇵 Japan	3.4
🇧🇪 Belgium	3.3
🇨🇭 Switzerland	3.3
🇦🇹 Austria	3.3
🇩🇪 Germany	3.1
🇫🇮 Finland	3.1
🇩🇰 Denmark	3.0
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	2.8
🇮🇸 Iceland	2.7
🇨🇳 China	2.6
🇳🇱 Netherlands	2.2
🇫🇷 France	2.2
🇸🇮 Slovenia	2.1
🇳🇴 Norway	1.9
🇸🇬 Singapore	1.8
🇪🇪 Estonia	1.8
🇨🇿 Czechia	1.8
🇨🇦 Canada	1.8
🇵🇹 Portugal	1.7
🇦🇺 Australia	1.7
🇮🇪 Ireland	1.6
🇵🇱 Poland	1.6
🇪🇸 Spain	1.5
🇬🇷 Greece	1.5
🇳🇿 New Zealand	1.5
🇹🇷 Türkiye	1.4
🇭🇷 Croatia	1.4
🇭🇺 Hungary	1.4
🇮🇹 Italy	1.3
🇱🇹 Lithuania	1.0
🇸🇰 Slovak Republic	1.0
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	1.0
🇱🇻 Latvia	0.8
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	0.8
🇿🇦 South Africa	0.6
🇦🇷 Argentina	0.6
🇷🇴 Romania	0.5
🇨🇱 Chile	0.4
🇨🇴 Colombia	0.3
🇨🇷 Costa Rica	0.3

Since 2020, OECD countries have spent an average of 2.7% of their GDP on R&D, altogether spending $1.9 trillion in 2023.

Israel stands out globally—not only for leading in R&D intensity, but also for having the highest number of high-tech startups per capita. Overall, it spent $28.3 billion on R&D, with about 92% driven by the private sector.

Also seeing among the highest R&D to GDP are South Korea, Taiwan, and Sweden.

In Taiwan, corporate R&D investment rose by 3.7% in 2023, a slowdown compared to the 8.8% annual average over the previous five years—largely fueled by the semiconductor sector. The small island nation spent $59.9 billion on R&D in 2023, the eighth-highest in the OECD.

When it comes to China, R&D investment has surged nearly eighteenfold since 2000, to reach $723 billion—the second-highest globally. To look at it another way, China’s share of global R&D spending grew from 4% to 26% over the period. Overall, the private sector contributed 77.6% of this spending in 2023, a similar level seen in America.