Improving indigenous innovation capability and building an innovation-oriented country is a strategic goal set forth in China’s National Guideline on Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Science and Technology Development (200620). The Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development began working on the national innovation index research in 2006 in order to track and assess China’s progress in building itself into an innovation-oriented country. With the support and assistance from the Ministry of Science and Technology and its related departments and bureaus, related public institutions, and experts from various sectors, the National Innovation Index Report has been published annually since 2011. The National Innovation Index Report 201617 is the 7th release.
The National Innovation Index Report, as one of the reports of the “national innovation survey system” series prepared in accordance with the Work Plan to Establish a National Innovation Survey System and the Measures for Implementation of the National Innovation Survey System, is a state-level innovation capacity evaluation report. Drawing upon domestic and international theories and methods of evaluation of national competitiveness and innovation capacity, it is based on an indicator matrix comprising five pillars, i.e. innovation resources, knowledge creation, enterprise innovation, innovation performance, and innovation environment. This report is still framed around the same indicator system structure as the previous release, which consists of 5 first-level indicators and 30 second-level indicators. The 30 second-level indicators include 20 quantitative indicators which highlight innovation scale, quality and efficiency and international competitiveness while maintaining a balance between large and small countries, and ten qualitative indicators which reflect the innovation environment.
This report continues to feature 40 countries with active science, technology and innovation (STI) activities (whose combined R&D expenditure accounts for more than 95% of the world’s total), and continues to use the commonly adopted benchmarking method worldwide to calculate the national innovation index. All data are obtained from databases and publications of governments or international organizations are internationally comparable and authoritative. It calculates the innovation index scores of the 40 countries based on the latest statistical data (2015 data unless otherwise indicated) and compare them with their performances in the previous release.
In today’s world, a country’s prosperity and sustainable development is mainly dependent on the development and accumulation of its national innovation capacity, rather than on the size of population or availability of natural resources. In the face of the opportunities and challenges accompanying science and technology development and the evolution of the international political and economic landscape, countries are increasing investment in innovation resources to strengthen their innovation capacity. Against the backdrop of global competition, China moved up to the 17th spot in the national innovation index with a higher overall index score, further narrowing its gap with advanced countries.
In May 2016, China released the Outline of the National Strategy of Innovation-Driven Development, officially sounding the bugle for its drive to build a global power in science and technology. With the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, there will be new opportunities and challenges in respect of the assessment of national innovation capacity, which requires constant exploration and in-depth research. We sincerely hope that the annual National Innovation Index Report will provide a window through which people can examine and understand China’s innovation capacity development. We will continue to draw upon the valuable opinions of experts and scholars to continuously improve the national innovation index as we witness the great historical process of China becoming an innovation-oriented country.
Editorial Committee of
National Innovation Index Report 201617