Thailand slips one place in 2020 GII

Thailand slips one place in 2020 GII

Thailand slipped one position to 44th out of 131 countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 commissioned by the World Intellectual Property Organization, hurt by a shortage of innovators and researchers and poor regulatory processes.

"The drop was mainly due to the regulatory environment and human capital issues, including education," said Pun-Arj Chairatana, executive director of the National Innovation Agency.

Switzerland ranked first in the index, followed by Sweden, the US, Britain and the Netherlands.

Several Asean countries kept their positions unchanged from last year, including Singapore (eighth), Indonesia (85th) and Vietnam (42nd).

The countries were categorised into four groups according to their economic clout: high-income, upper middle-income, lower middle-income and low-income.

Thailand was placed in the upper middle-income bracket, consisting of 37 countries. It ranked fourth in this group behind China, Malaysia and Bulgaria.

Vietnam was put in the lower middle-income group and ranked first out of 29.

The GII gauges seven core factors, consisting of institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology output, creative output and market sophistication.

Mr Pun-Arj said Thailand performed well in terms of business sophistication, which climbed from 60th last year to 36th this year. The business sophistication factor encompasses knowledgeable workers, innovation linkages and knowledge absorption.

The country's market sophistication rose 10 positions to 22nd this year. This factor consists of credit, investment, trade, competition and market scale.

Infrastructure factor jumped 10 positions to 67th, while creative output climbed two spots to 52nd. In the latter category, the country's creative goods export ranked No.1.

A key challenge is the institutions category, in which Thailand fell eight positions to 65th this year. This category includes regulatory environment, which fell from 105th last year to 113th this year.

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