Vietnam top innovator among lower middle-income economies: report

A report released Monday places Vietnam in 44th position overall and first position among the lower-middle income economies. It retains its top position in the lower middle-income bracket from last year.

With a score of 37, Vietnam is placed behind Thailand and ahead of Russia in the worldwide ranking and ahead of India in the lower middle-income bracket.

The report mentions Vietnam as one of four economies (the others being Turkey, India and the Philippines) with the potential to change the global innovation landscape, systematically catching up with other economies like China.

Vietnam in particular is among several developing economies that have held the record for over-performing on innovation relative to their level of development for the 11th year in the row, the report says.

In Asia (excluding Western Asia), Vietnam is ranked 8th among 25 economies in the region, behind Thailand and ahead of India.

The 2021 Global Innovation Index, issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), ranks the innovative performance of world economies based on seven factors: human capital and research, knowledge and technology output, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, creative outputs and institutions.

Vietnam has been part of the index since its debut in 2007, climbing up steadily since 2013, after several years of hovering just above the 70th place.