Although the first half of 2013 has seen a pronounced economic uptick, the global recovery is not as strong as anticipated last year. Economic growth in emerging markets and high-income economies is uneven: growth prospects for many low- and middle-income economies continue to be good, but many high-income economies continue to struggle towards recovery.

Economic policy action is still focused on finding the right balance between reducing debt and supporting demand through stimulus spending. But questions remain: Where will future growth come from to drive the global economy? Where will future jobs come from? In this context, the importance of innovation cannot be emphasized enough. It is the policies fostering long-term output growth—especially policies that promote innovation—that can lay the foundation for future growth, improved productivity, and better jobs.

To guide polices and to help overcome divides, metrics are needed to assess innovation and policy performance. For this purpose, The Global Innovation Index 2013: The Local Dynamics of Innovation is timely and relevant. The Global Innovation Index (GII) helps to create an environment in which innovation factors are continually evaluated. It provides a key tool and a rich database of detailed metrics for 142 economies, which represent 94.9% of the world’s population and 98.7% of global GDP.

Innovative countries (with the exception of a few small economies or city states) are rarely able to achieve uniformly high levels of achievements along all the different dimensions of the GII model.

Instead, many innovation capabilities are developed in local ecosystems that revolve around particular cities, clusters, or regions. Against this background, it is only appropriate that the GII 2013 focuses on the local dynamics of innovation.

Launched by INSEAD in 2007, the GII report is now co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. This year, the GII draws on the support and expertise of its Knowledge Partners Booz & Company, the Confederation of Indian Industry, du, and Huawei, as well as an Advisory Board of 14 eminent international experts. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission again performed a thorough robustness and sensitivity analysis of the index for the third consecutive year.

The GII is primarily concerned with improving the ‘journey’ towards better measuring and understanding innovation and with identifying targeted policies, good practices, and other levers that can foster innovation. Written in a nontechnical language and style, the GII appeals to diverse groups including policy makers, business leaders, academics, and different organizations of civil society.

Documento Completo en: http://www.globalinnovationindex.org/content.aspx?page=gii-full-report-2013#pdfopener

Fuente: www.globalinnovationindex.org