Being awarded the bronze medal in the Global Innovation Index (GII) is a demotion from the runner-up position the country held for the last four years, the main reason behind it being a drop in inputs this year.

 

The report, published by INSEAD, the leading international business school, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, ranked 143 countries/economies on the basis of their innovation capabilities and results.

 

Innovation is measured by tallying elements of the national economy which embody innovative activities over seven components: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs.

 

Despite losing out on the second place in favour of the United Kingdom, the CEO of INSEAD, Bruno Lanvin, saw no reason for Sweden to feel ashamed.

 

"Sweden is showing spectacular results without any big weaknesses, and is one of the world's most innovative countries," he said at a press conference.

 

"The country is like one of the top students in a class sitting at the front and keeping up with everything."

 

Sweden were particularly prominent in the areas "Research and development" and "Knowledge and technology outputs", the report stating that the country was "one of the five economies at the efficiency frontier".

 

Furthermore, according to the GII's depiction of a perfect world for innovation, Sweden would be the country in charge of information technologies, an industry associated with computer hardware and software, telecom equipment and e-commerce.