Global Innovation Index 2018

TT has fallen five spots on the Global Innovation Index (GII) and from 91 out of 126 countries in 2017 to 96 this year. Switzerland, meanwhile, topped the 2018 ranking, a position it has held since 2011.

Speaking at the GII's national release at Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business (GSB), Mt Hope last Wednesday, GSB's programme director Dr Balraj Kistow argued the drop was largely due to unavailable and/or outdated data.

"We are not letting the world know what we are doing and that's bad. Why is this bad? (For example,) what have we been doing in terms of tertiary education? First thing that comes to mind, GATE. We have been spending quite a lot of money since 2006 on GATE but that's not reflected here."

Kistow drove this point home several times during his presentation, highlighting TT's position this year as the country with the most missing values (data) – 25.

"It's interesting to note," Kistow said, "that the thing we featured most in this report has noting to do with innovation but with a lack of data. As we say, what doesn't get measured, doesn't get valued. We are not updating our statistics at these internationally-recognised institutions, partly because we don't have a properly functioning statistical body."

A chart in the GII 2018 listed nine countries with missing values: TT with 25; Togo with 23; Burundi with 22; Niger with 22; Benin with 21; Brunei Darussalam with 21; Burkina Faso with 20; Guinea with 20; and Nepal with 20.

"Some of these countries have excuses. Some of them have civil unrest, political instability and so on. So what is this saying? We are considered to be a high income country but we are not showing the level of business and institutional sophistication for our level of development and that is what is (reflected here)."

TT's score in the 2018 index moved from 30.39 to 26.75 while our efficiency ratio dropped from 0.43 to .60. However, the largest movement was recorded in our knowledge and emerging technology output, which moved from a score of 22.5 in 2017 to 13.8 this year.

The GII is produced by Cornell University, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the global school for business (INSEAD). It analyses 126 economies which represent 90.8 per cent of the world’s population and 96.3 per cent of global GDP. Its 80 indicators explore a broad vision of innovation, including political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication.