The Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023 for this year ranks 132 countries, with Malaysia maintaining its 36th place overall. According to a report released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the total score increased this year from 38.7 to 40.9.
Five of the seven pillars of the GII have experienced improvements since 2022, with Malaysia moving up from 38th to 32nd in the Human Capital and Research area and from 34th to 29th in the Institutions category.
The nation improved significantly in other areas as well, moving from 41st to 36th in business sophistication and rising from 26th to 18th in market sophistication. Additionally, the Knowledge and Technology Outputs category experienced an improvement with a jump from position 39 to 37.
These findings indicate that Malaysia, behind China, is the second most innovative nation among the 36 upper-middle income nations, according to the GII 2023 report. Malaysia continues to be the second-most inventive country in ASEAN, behind Singapore, in the regional context.
The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) stated in a news release that it aspires to rank among the top 30 countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII) by 2025 and that it has planned a number of upcoming projects to help Malaysia achieve this goal:
- Supporting the process of registering intellectual property (IP) rights for potentially marketable ideas, particularly those created by school pupils.
- Creating the National Planet Health Action Plan (PTKPN), which incorporates the GII’s considerations of human health issues as well as the nation’s relationship with nature, biodiversity, and climate change.
- Providing data on the local startup ecosystem’s market to help Bursa Malaysia find potential businesses that might be placed on the stock exchange.
- Proposing the creation of a Special Committee for Science, Technology, and Innovation Talent. This committee would support national programmes to create adaptable talents in science, technology, and innovation and would include representatives from the industry.
The performance of Malaysia in the GII, according to MOSTI, serves as a barometer of the nation’s current innovation capabilities. MOSTI focuses on the elements that spur and support innovation, such as R&D, entrepreneurship, technological infrastructure, and other areas that need attention.
While Indonesia (61st), Vietnam (46th), and the Philippines (56th) are all among the nations that have advanced the fastest in the GII rankings over the past ten years, Singapore (5th) represents the region’s most innovative economy.