The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has climbed two places to 66th place among 131 countries on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020, comparing to its 68th place last year. This came in the annual innovation report issued today by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD, under the title "Funding Innovation", which illustrates the status of innovation financing by exploring the development of existing financing mechanisms and the most prominent challenges facing it. The report attributed the Kingdom's improved performance to its progress in several indicators, including: Innovation Output Index, which advanced from 85th last year to 77th in 2020, advancing 8 ranks. Moreover, the Kingdom jumped from 86th place in on Creative Output Index in 2019 to 69th for 2020, advancing 7 ranks. It has also advanced on the market development index from 47th in 2019 to 44th in 2020, advancing 3 ranks and advancing two ranks on the institutions index from 104th to 102nd in 2020. The index measures innovation performance in the countries worldwide through innovation inputs and outputs, by specifying the average of two sub-indicators: the innovation input index, which is based on five pillars, including: (institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market development, and business development), and the innovation outputs index, which is divided into (knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs).
