Korea regained its top position in the 2021 Bloomberg Innovation Index, which Bloomberg news service publishes every year. It gave Germany the first place last year and recaptured it.
According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Feb. 3, Korea ranked first among 60 countries with 90.49 points in the "2021 Bloomberg Innovation Index" released by Bloomberg on Feb. 2 (local time).
The Bloomberg index analyzes dozens of criteria using seven equally weighted metrics, including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies.
South Korea ranked first for six consecutive years from 2014 to 2019, but fell to second place last year behind Germany.
By recapturing the top spot this year, South Korea has set a record of seven times in the nine years since the index was introduced.
Singapore (87.76 points) and Switzerland (87.60 points) rose one step from last year to rank second and third, respectively. Germany, which ranked first last year with 86.45 points, fell to fourth place this year.
The U.S., which ranked first in 2013, ranked 11th this year, down two notches from the previous year. China ranked 16th, one step behind.
Bloomberg said "The 2021 rankings reflect a world where the fight against Covid-19 has brought innovation to the fore –- from government efforts to contain the pandemic, to the digital infrastructure that’s allowed economies to work through it, and the race to develop vaccines that can end it."
The media also said "Much of the Bloomberg data comes from before the virus crisis. Still, it’s notable that many countries high on the index –- like Korea, Germany and Israel –- have been world leaders in some areas of fighting the pandemic, whether it’s contact-tracing or speedy vaccination."
Bloomberg Innovation Index is calculated annually on a 100-point scale by evaluating seven sectors, including R&D concentration, patent activity, manufacturing value-added, productivity, high-tech concentration, education efficiency, and research concentration, among 60 major countries.
