(Publ. 1 AUG 2019) Sweden has a high capacity for innovation and is at the absolute top of the world. This is according to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s, WIPO’s, annual survey “The Global Innovation Index”. Sweden has climbed to a second place after having a third place in the rankings the past years, where a total of 141 countries’ capacity for innovation is measured.

Switzerland has the number one ranking followed by Sweden, the United States, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom as the world’s most innovative nations according to The Global Innovation Index 2019. The entire top-10 list can be found below, with each country’s position from 2018 in parentheses.

The highest ranked countries outside Europe and North America are exclusively developed industrial countries such as India, South Africa, Chile, Israel and Singapore. But countries like China, Viet Nam and Rwanda are among the countries with strong development in the area of innovation.

Every year the report is dedicated to a special theme which this year is Creating Healthy Lives – The Future of Medical Innovation. The Global Innovation Index examines innovation capabilities and results on the basis of 80 indicators. In addition to criteria such as patents and trademark applications, this year an indicator has been added for mobile-phone app creation and high-tech exports. The rankings have been published annually since in 2007.

The world’s 10 most innovative countries 2019:

1  Switzerland (1)
2  Sweden (3)
3  The United States (6)
4  The Netherlands (2)
5  United Kingdom (4)
6  Finland (7)
7  Denmark (8)
8  Singapore (5)
9  Germany (9)
10 Israel (11)