TEHRAN – Iran is placed 26th worldwide for the share of its hi-tech industries in the national production, surpassing the regional countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 report.

Every year, the Global Innovation Index ranks the innovation performance of more than 130 economies around the world. The GII 2020 with a theme of “Who Will Finance Innovation?” discusses how the state of innovation finance is changing rapidly. This chapter reveals and analyzes the annual GII innovation rankings—by top-performing economies, regions, and innovation components.

According to this report, Iran is ranked second among 10 countries in the Central and South Asian region.

In this region, India (48th), Iran (67th), and Kazakhstan (77th) are ranked first to third, respectively. Iran is also ranked 19th among 37 middle-income countries.

Iran is significantly leading the countries in the region in terms of global innovation, for example, in the “number of trademark applications” index, Iran is ranked first in the world, and Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are ranked 17, 111 and 125, respectively.

In the indicators of human capital, including “the share of basic science and engineering graduates in the total graduates of higher education”, Iran is ranked 3 and also 30 in “higher education registration”.

These indicators represent the country's readiness for technology development and innovation.

In the higher education registration index, countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are ranked 32 and 54, respectively.

The total ranking of Iran is 67 in the GII 2020 report, which was 61 in 2019.

Iran ranked 43rd among 100 most vibrant clusters of science and technology (S&T) worldwide for the third consecutive years.

The top 100 clusters are located in 26 countries, 6 of which including Brazil, China, India, Iran, Turkey, and Russia represent middle-income economies.

Iran also experienced a three-level improvement compared to 2019.

Tehran also ranked 9th among top regions (clusters) of science and technology in middle-income countries, surpassing Berlin, Zurich, Bangalore, Delhi, Lausanne, Vienna, Istanbul, Sao Paulo, Ankara, and Mumbai.

The ranking published by the WIPO, which is the global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information, and cooperation. It is a self-funding agency of the United Nations, with 191 member states.

It aims to lead the development of a balanced and effective international intellectual property system that enables innovation and creativity for the benefit of all.

FB/MG