Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Global Innovation Index was created by Soumitra Dutta and started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business, a British magazine. Since 2021, it has been published solely by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The score is the simple average of two sub-indices: the Innovation Input Index and the Innovation Output Index. The Input side has five pillars and the Output side has two pillars, with each pillar scored by a weighted average of up to five indicators.
The 2025 edition ranks 139 economies. Together they represent 93.6 percent of the world's population. To qualify, an economy must have data for at least 35 Input indicators and 15 Output indicators.
Critics argue the index gives excessive weight to factors not central to innovation, such as "Ease of Paying Taxes" and "Ease of Protecting Minority Investors." A 2024 study by Sarcina, Paolantonio, Valentini, and Iannone found the pillar analysis "too aggregated" and called for the model to include geographical, demographic, and socio-economic factors.
The General Assembly of the United Nations mentioned the index in a resolution on science, technology and innovation for sustainable development adopted on the 19th of December 2019.
The 2020 theme was "Who will finance innovation?" It examined the evolution of existing innovation financing mechanisms and identified both progress and remaining challenges. Previous editions covered health innovation, environmental innovation, and agricultural and food innovation.