China has entered the United Nations’ annual list of the world’s ten most innovative nations for the first time, displacing Germany, Europe’s largest economy, as companies in Beijing ramp up investment in research and development.
Switzerland held on to the top spot, a position it has maintained since 2011, followed by Sweden and the United States. China came in tenth in the Global Innovation Index (GII), which assessed 139 economies against 78 indicators.
The survey showed that China is on course to become the leading spender on Research and Development (R&D), rapidly narrowing the gap in private sector investment.
However, the global outlook for innovation is overshadowed by falling investment. Growth in R&D is forecast to slow to 2.3% this year from 2.9% in 2024 – already the weakest since 2010 in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
China accounted for roughly a quarter of international patent applications last year, remaining the largest source, while the United States, Japan and Germany – which collectively represent 40% – all registered slight declines.
Patent ownership is widely regarded as a key measure of economic strength and technological expertise.
In the longer term, Germany should not be overly concerned about its slip to eleventh place, said GII co-editor Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, noting that the rankings did not take into account the impact of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
“The challenge for Germany is how, alongside its strong, decades-long role as an industrial innovation powerhouse, it can also become a leader in digital innovation,” said World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director General Daren Tang.
The other countries in the top ten – positioned between the United States and China – were South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark.
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President Donald Trump said he will be involved “indirectly” in nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran scheduled for Tuesday in Geneva, as both sides resume diplomacy against a backdrop of military pressure and deep mistrust.
The Pentagon has threatened to designate artificial intelligence firm Anthropic as a “supply chain risk” amid a dispute over the military use of its Claude AI model, according to a report published Monday.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the United States are set to meet in Geneva for a third round of trilateral negotiations aimed at ending the nearly four-year war, even as both sides intensify military pressure on the ground.
Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed two people in the past 12 hours, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani said the United States could evaluate its own interests separately from those of Israel in ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday (15 February) called it “troubling” a report by five European allies blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using a toxin from poison dart frogs.
Cuba’s fuel crisis has turned into a waste crisis, with rubbish piling up on most street corners in Havana as many collection trucks lack enough petrol to operate.
Norway is holding a commanding lead in the medal standings with 12 golds and a total of 26, with Italy having an historic performance on home soil on the ninth day of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday (15 February).
Iran is pursuing a nuclear agreement with the U.S. that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian diplomat was reported as saying on Sunday (15 February), days before a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington.
ByteDance will take steps to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property on its artificial intelligence (AI) video generator Seedance 2.0, the Chinese technology firm said on Monday.
The formation of a black hole can be quite a violent event, with a massive dying star blowing up and some of its remnants collapsing to form an exceptionally dense object with gravity so strong not even light can escape.
BMW is recalling a mid six figure number of vehicles worldwide after identifying a potential fire risk linked to the starter motor.
British chipmaker Fractile will invest £100 million over the next three years to expand its artificial intelligence hardware operations in the UK, opening a new engineering facility in Bristol as it ramps up production of next-generation AI systems.
The European Union has launched its largest semiconductor pilot line under the European Chips Act, investing €700 million ($832 million) in the new NanoIC facility at IMEC in Leuven, Belgium, as part of efforts to strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty.
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