South Korea Ranks 9th in EU Innovation Performance Report... Drops 5 Places

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] In the European Union (EU)'s innovation performance evaluation of 48 countries, South Korea ranked 9th. This is five places lower than in 2019 (4th place).

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 23rd, in the 2020 innovation performance evaluation conducted by the EU Commission targeting 27 member countries, 11 neighboring countries, and 10 global competitor countries, totaling 48 countries, South Korea received a composite innovation index score of 121. The composite innovation index sets the 2020 EU member country average at 100 and indexes each country's innovation performance accordingly.

Although the number of evaluation indicators differs and it is for unofficial reference, based on all 48 evaluated countries, South Korea ranks 9th following Switzerland (144 points), Sweden (139 points), and Finland (135 points).

While the ranking declined based on the 48 countries, South Korea has held 1st place for nine consecutive years among the 10 global competitor countries. The 10 countries are South Korea, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, and Russia.

Among the 19 evaluation indicators that can be directly compared with the 48 evaluated countries, South Korea scored above the EU average (over 100 points) in 11 indicators.

In particular, strengths were shown in 'patent applications' (308.6 points), 'trademark applications' (271.8 points), and 'design applications' (467.6 points).

However, small and medium enterprises showed poor performance in 'open innovation' (51.3 points), 'product and process innovation' (76.6 points), and 'fine dust emissions in the manufacturing sector' (49.1 points).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.