The UK is one of the most innovative countries in the world. While innovation can be tricky to measure, many organizations and economists use indexes to get a better understanding of innovation rates across countries. Let’s take a look at the latest data and explore what it means for the UK.
The Global Economy website offers an Innovation Index which measures various aspects such as research and development spending, high-tech exports, patent applications, and other factors. Using this index, we can learn that from 2011 to 2018, the average value for the United Kingdom was 60.57 points with a minimum of 56 points in 2011 and a maximum of 62.4 points in 2014. The latest value from 2022 is 59.7 points. For comparison, the world average in 2022 based on 128 countries is 32.09 points.
These numbers suggest that despite some fluctuations over time, the UK remains one of the leading countries when it comes to innovation rate compared to other nations around the globe. This could be attributed to several factors such as investments into research and development by large companies or governmental institutions like Innovate UK (formerly known as Technology Strategy Board) which supports innovation through grants or financial assistance programs for small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to develop cutting-edge products or services. Additionally, government initiatives like Startup Britain also provide support and mentorship for startups throughout their development stages.