Campus Review Vol 31. Issue 11 - November 2021 | Page 14

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Innovation Index 2021

Australia continues to fare well in the strengths of its universities .
Strong performance across a number of countries in global ranking .
By Anand Kulkarni

The recently released Global Innovation Index 2021 covering 132 countries highlights that innovation and research continue to grow in spite of COVID-19 .

In previous times of turbulence innovation has taken a back seat , but this is not the case with the pandemic , with expenditures on research and patents on the rise as nations individually and collectively aim for solutions to the pandemic and in dealing with its fall out .
However , it should be noted that there are sectoral discrepancies . Some sectors , notably software and ICT and pharmaceuticals and biotechnology , have shown an increase in innovation while others including transport and travel have experienced a decline .
The Innovation index revealed a number of key findings . Europe and North America continue to dominate the rankings . The top 10 countries in the world are Switzerland , Sweden , USA , UK , South Korea , Netherlands , Finland , Singapore , Denmark and Germany . In fact , there has been consistency in the rankings over a number of years now with Switzerland , Sweden , US and UK being in the top five over the last five years .
What is also apparent is the rise of Asian nations . Apart from South Korea entering the top five for the first time and Singapore being in 8th place , China continues its inexorable surge and is placed 12th , Japan is 13th , Hong Kong 14th , Malaysia 36th , Thailand 43rd , Vietnam 44th and India 46th . Various of these economies are achieving innovation levels beyond what their level of development would imply . Slowly and tentatively , the locus of innovative activity is shifting towards Asia , although there is a considerable way to go before the dominance of Europe and North America is threatened . Other groupings , notably Central and Southern Asia , Latin America and Africa lag considerably behind the leaders .
The Global Innovation Index measures inputs ( pillars of institutions , human capital and research , infrastructure , market sophistication and business sophistication ) and outputs ( pillars of knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs ). Underpinning the pillars are upwards of 80 variables canvassing such metrics as regulatory quality , business environment , investment in education , science and engineering graduates , intellectual property receipts , ranked universities , articles published , labour productivity , skilled workers , trade indicators and high and medium technology industry outputs .
AUSTRALIA ’ S PERFORMANCE Australia is ranked 25th in 2021 , down from its ranking of 23rd in 2020 . This is part of a steady decline with corresponding rankings of 22nd in 2019 and 20th in 2018 .
Focusing on the 2021 results there is somewhat of a disconnect between input rankings ( overall inputs ranked at 15th ) and overall outputs ranked at 33rd . This points to Australia having the fundamentals and enablers in place but less ability to transform these inputs into tangible outputs and wealth creating and societal outcomes . One of the key reasons behind this is the weakness in the eco-innovation system in commercialising knowledge .
In support of this proposition are the following . Among key metrics that Australia is strongest in , in fact inside the top 10 , are : regulatory quality ( 4th ); school life expectancy ( 1st ); gross enrolment in tertiary education institutions ( 3rd ); ranked universities ( 7th ); government online services ( 7th ) and e-participation ( 9th ); ease of getting credit ( 4th ); scientific and technical articles ( 6th ); citable documents H index ( 9th ); applied tariff rates , with lower tariffs the better ( 8th ); entertainment and media market ( 6th ); new business density ( 9th ) and joint ventures ( 10th ). These are essentially input indicators .
On the other hand , weaker areas for Australia ( ie rank worse than 50th in the world ) are as follows : government funding for secondary schools ( 74th ); science and engineering graduates ( 88th ); energy use / GDP ( 77th ); labour productivity growth ( 87th ); high tech manufacturing ( 50th ); software spending ( 61st ); production and export complexity ( 86th ); high tech exports ( 58th ); ICT services exports ( 78th ); cultural and creative services exports ( 66th ); creative goods exports ( 57th ); gross capital formation ( 66th ); and national feature films ( 58th ).
These weaker areas reflect the nature and structure of the Australian economy and absence of fully fledged innovation systems . For example , the still heavy reliance on raw materials is reflected , arguably , in the weaker performance of exports of advanced manufacturers and creative sector exports . Productivity continues to demand attention and this in turn can be driven by a number of factors , including wider attention to technology development and diffusion .
Australia continues to fare well in the strengths of its universities as reflected in ranked institutions and publications , but two key challenges remain : lifting science and engineering graduates to align with growth in newer knowledge based industries ; and unlocking and leveraging more of the research capability in institutions . ■
Dr Anand Kulkarni is a Higher Education Professional with Victoria University . The views expressed here are the author ’ s .
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