MANILA, Philippines– The Philippines retained the 73rd spot out of 126 economies in the 2018 Global Innovation Index (GII).

The GII ranks countries according to their capacity and success in innovation. The survey looks into a country’s institutions, infrastructure, business and market sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, human and capital research, and creative outputs.

Business sophistication in the country was on the upper half of the index at 44th, joined by knowledge and technology outputs at 49th.

However, market sophistication (100th), institutions (93rd), creative outputs (92nd), and human capital and research (86th) dragged down the country’s overall ranking.

Meanwhile on the sub-indices, the country ranked highest in percentage of research talent in business enterprise at (7th), share of firms offering formal trainings (9th), and share of graduates in science and engineering (17th).

The Philippines also fared well in indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) per unit of energy use (20th) and market capitalization (20th).

However, most of the sub-indices revealed problems. 

For instance, the country’s political environment and political stability and safety ranked 93rd and 117th respectively. Rule of law also slumped to the 88th spot from last year’s 81st.

The survey also revealed that the country is among the worst in ease of doing business, ranking at 121st. The Philippines’ overall business environment was ranked 91st. Ease of getting credit ranked at a disappointing 111st.

The GII also reported that the education sector is among the weakest in the world, ranking 105th. Moreover, expenditure on education ranked 109th.

The Philippines’ ranking was stagnant compared to other Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) neighbors.

Singapore made it to the top 5 from 7 last year; Malaysia, to 35 from 37; Thailand to 44 from 51; Vietnam, to 45 from 47; Brunei, to 67 from 71; Indonesia, to 85 from 87; and Cambodia, to 98 from 101

This year’s top 5 are Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Singapore. 

The survey was conducted by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University, and INSEAD Business School. – Rappler.com